Who Done it?
by DSISandraPullman39
Summary: Jean, Robbie, Laura and James go on a very special team building weekend
1. Chapter 1

**Who done it 1/?**

**Disclaimer:-** Don't own them just borrowing!

**Episode:- **None

**Pairing:- **Ah difficult question really a team fic but there's little bits of both Jean/James and Robbie/Laura nothing huge though!

**Rating:- **T

**Achieve:- ** ** . /group/lewisffarchive/**

**Summary:- **Jean, Robbie, Laura and James go on a very interesting team building weekend.

**Author's Note:- **I really wanted to do something with all four of the characters and the idea of a team building thingy just appealed! Add to that the fact I'm an Agatha Christie devotee and this is what came out. Hope you enjoy it and reviews would be lovely thank you!

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this, who decided we needed "team building" anyway we get along ok, we solve cases without killing each other in the process and James and I only do the minimum amount of complaining about you behind your back. What's wrong with our team?" Robbie grumbled glancing into the back seat where Jean looked back at him shaking her head.

"We're the only team that hasn't been on one and the Chief Constable has been bending my ear about it for months. I'm not exactly over the moon about it myself but we have no choice so we might as well make the most of it." She sighed "Laura isn't complaining and she didn't even have to come. Thanks again Laura if I'd had to spend the entire weekend alone with grumpy and grumpier I may have needed committed by the end of it or killed them then I wouldn't have a team to build on!"

"No problem I think it'll be fun." Laura smiled. When her friend has called and explained the situation she'd jumped at the chance. Then when Jean had explained that she wasn't telling Robbie and James the nature of the weekend adventure until they were on their way and too close to make excuses to get out of it she'd decided it would definitely be fun. "Have you told them yet? How did you get their measurements?"

"No I thought we'd stop for lunch shortly and we'd fill them in then. As for their measurements I have them on file from the order for their new dress uniforms last month so they better hope neither of them lied about their waist measurement or they're in for an uncomfortable weekend." Jean replied exchanging an amused glance with Laura as Robbie turned in the passenger seat and stared at her in horror while she heard James muttering about what the hell they were getting into. "There's a little pub up ahead James we'll stop there for lunch and I'll fill you in."

"Mam you're making us nervous now, you and Laura know what you're getting into any chance you could fill us in?" James asked as they placed their order and the waitress left them alone again.

"Ok well we're going to a country house themed weekend thing the Chief Constable has decided it's the…."

"All due respect Jean we know all that." Robbie interrupted scowling as Laura laughed again.

"Well it's a…."

"Oh for pities sake Jean just tell them you're their boss remember if they really kick off you can bounce them back into uniform." Laura laughed prompting another nervous look from Robbie as Jean pulled four envelops from her handbag.

"It's an Edwardian themed murder mystery weekend." She continued holding her hand up to silence the boys before their objections could begin. "I know ok why do you think I waited this long to tell you. If it helps we're not doing the investigating we get to be on the other side for once. There are actors there who'll be playing the house staff, the victim and the detective. Now there's no point in giving me a hard time about it so let's just see who we're going to be for the weekend and try to enjoy it."

Handing out the envelopes as the waitress returned with their food Jean smiled as the boys took them without the barrage of complaints she was expecting.

"The chief constable needs more to occupy his time, if he worked as hard as the rest of us he wouldn't have time to come up with rubbish like this." James sighed as the all looked at the envelopes. "Go on Mam you first let's hear it."

"Ok….." Jean replied opening the envelope and scanning the card. "Right there's two parts we need to keep the second part a secret from each other, I have a feeling that might be a theme for the weekend. Anyway my character is Lady Veronica Hampton-Styles…"

"Might have known you'd get to be a toff." Robbie laughed "I bet I'm the gardener or something."

"Lady Veronica is a widowed member of the fading aristocracy. She's from "old" money and has a complete lack of tolerance for the burgeoning equality among the lower ranked members of society."

"Type casting then," James smiled causing Laura to choke on her lunch as Robbie nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah giving the lower ranks a hard time should be easy enough for you mam, what else does it say?"

"Watch it you two or the murders this weekend may not all be completely fictional." Jean laughed enjoying the fact that they had all relaxed and the atmosphere around that able had become so teasing even if that teasing at this moment was directed at her. Looking back at the card she scanned the "dark secret" section reading _Lady Veronica has been having a steamy affair with Sebastian Fleming-Rodgers which would completely destroy her social standing where it to come out._ "Can't tell you the rest. Who's next? Laura let's hear yours."

"If you're going to be the gardener Robbie I must be going to be the house maid." She smiled setting down her fork and opening the envelope as the others continued eating. "Oh I take that back this weekend I shall be "Suzanne Le'Qua" a divorcee with a French duke for an ex. It says here Suzanne is very much "new" money, sharp as a knife and knows everyone's business or thinks she does."

"I can tell already Lady Veronica and Ms Le'Qua are going to get on like a house on fire!" Jean laughed shaking her head as Laura continued to read in silence taking in her character's dark secret. _Ms Le'Qua had an illegitimate daughter as a teenager who was put up for adoption and which she has never told her husband about. If it came out that she kept it from him he would use it as an excuse to stop her very generous allowance. _"Interesting. Boys? Who's first?"

"Go ahead sir, age before beauty." James smiled nodding at the envelope in front of Robbie's plate.

"Careful Sergeant Jean's not the only one here who out ranks you! Ok let's see…ah not the gardener in fact a promotion of sorts. Cornel Rupert Mc Farlon, retired army officer, never married. In his youth he was linked to several society women now known for being a little lecherous but largely harmless." He read smiling as laughter erupted around the table.

"Clearly another bit of type casting then." Laura said quietly winking across the table at him.

"Hey I'm strictly a one woman at a time sort of man." He replied the mock sulkiness in his tone causing Jean and James to trade exasperated eye rolls as he fell silent and carried on reading. _"Con. Mc Farlon was pushed rather than voluntarily retired after rumours of an affair with the wife of a fellow officer. If it came out it would not only affect his social standing but put an end to his income from the after dinner speaker circuit._

"Ok James just you left we're clearly all going to be a group of socialites where do you fit in?" Jean asked smiling at the waitress as she cleared the plates away and took their coffee order.

"I'll clearly be the dashing and mysterious…..Oh great…" James sighed shaking his head "Are you sure you didn't have anything to do with picking the characters we played Mam giving me Sebastian Fleming Rodgers cad and man about town seems exactly like your sort of sense of humour."

"Cad and man about town?" Jean laughed shaking her head firmly "No James I can assure you I got the envelopes this morning and had no idea what was in them but you're right I think it's hilarious!"

"James the party animal, now that'll take some acting!" Robbie agreed as the laughter around the table increased and James read on silently taking in his character's secret. _Sebastian's reputation is a front he's actually very much in love with Lady Veronica but needs to maintain the illusion that their affair means nothing to him since she shows no signs of wanting to make their relationship permanent. Without the party invites, dinner parties and the like he attends he'd never be able to maintain the life style he has._

"Oh I don't know I think I might manage it; it looks like there are one or two things old Sebastian here and I might have in common." James smiled his eyes briefly meeting Jean's across the table before he slipped the card back into the envelope it came from.

"I still think the chief constable has a bloody nerve Mam." Robbie sighed as they all finished up and prepared to go back to the car.

"That's as may be but unfortunately he's still in charge so we have no choice." Jean replied as she got back into the car and slicked her seatbelt on and they drove off toward their destination. "Anyway back to how the weekend works. At times over the weekend envelopes will be left in your rooms and we'll be given extra events that will happen or details we can or can't share with the rest of us. According to this paperwork one of us will get a note telling us we are the killer and the victim will be the butler."

"Well at least we're not going completely cliché." Robbie interrupted.

"Yeah we can safely say the butler didn't do it." Laura added smiling at the way they had both clearly been thinking the same thing.

"Yes but remember this." Jean continued looking around as if to emphasise her point. "The Chief Constable has decided to make these weekends a competition between departments, the winning team is the one that lasts the longest before the detective works out who the murder is. The winning team gets a meal at the Randolph which might not seem like worth winning I agree but remember this. We're playing for the pride of our team. If we end up last I will not be a happy woman on Monday morning and if I'm not happy…"

"We won't be happy." Robbie interrupted

"More like our lives won't be worth living." James added as Laura bit her lip trying not to laugh and Jean smiled at her and winked.

"Got it in one." She replied. "So I suggest you spend the rest of the journey thinking about your characters and how best to keep your deep dark secrets!"


	2. Chapter 2

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

Who done it 2/?

"Welcome to Marsden Manor Ladies and Gentlemen and we hope you'll find the weekend not just entertaining but that it will help bring you closer together as a team." The man in a starched white shirt and dress suit said as Jean, Laura, Robbie and James stood in front of him in the lavish entrance hall exchanging amused glances. "Mrs Montgomery will show you to your rooms and Alistair will ensure that your bags are brought up. In your rooms you'll find your costumes for the weekend which should be worn for all activates including tonight's dinner which will be served at 8pm. Also in your room you'll find more details about your character please read those as they include instructions for the evening."

"Is he for real?" Laura whispered as they took their keys and followed the elderly woman now leading them to their rooms.

"He won't be for long. I think he's the butler so he's not going to last long." James smiled as the ladies were each shown to their rooms and he and Robbie were guided to two at the other end of the corridor.

Looking around the room as the heavy door closed behind her Jean smiled. For all her agreement with Robbie that the chief constable had a bloody cheek she was quite looking forward to the weekend.

"Ok Lady Veronica let's see what you wear for formal dining." She said quietly approaching the wardrobe in the corner of the room and opening it. "Oh I know this weekend was going to be worth the hassle."

Lifting the midnight blue dress from the rain she ran her fingers over the fine boning of the bodice which stopped at hip level and lead to a straight ankle length skirt. On a hanger beside it hung a faux wrap and a small bag with a necklace and earrings both with large blue stones. Smiling again the closed the wardrobe and moved to the bed lifting the crisp white envelope from the pillow.

"Now what have you got to tell me" She whispered taking the card from inside and reading it;

"_Sebastian will make attempts to engage with Lady Veronica throughout the evening to talk about their relationship. You must remain aloof and resist his attempts to get you alone. While Suzanne Le' Qua will try to goad you with comments designed to illicit negative reactions you must remain dignified at all times in a way that Lady Veronica would considering fitting to her social standing which is also the reason she largely ignores the Cornel knowing his reputation his reputation and considering it unbefitting of his rank. Toward the end of the evening you must get Sebastian alone to talk about your relationship a conversation which may or may not be over heard."_

"Well you just get more interesting Veronica if I was the detective this weekend you'd be right at the top of my list of suspects." She sighed glancing at the clock before lying back on the bed. It was almost laughable that James had thought she had anything to do with picking their characters for the weekend. If she had she would have made sure that they at no point had to act like they cared for each other because it may be hard for him to do but it would be easy, maybe too easy, for her.

Bouncing on the large wood framed bed as she flopped into it Laura let out a contented sigh. She didn't care how the others felt about it she was looking forward to the weekend and to spending it with them without being elbow deep in body parts or imparting the gorier details of some murder or another. From her position on the bed she could see the gorgeous emerald green dress hanging on the outside of the wardrobe door where she'd put it moments before when she lifted it out. It was classically cut with a plunge neckline and a scooped back that would have been exactly what she would have expected for the character she'd read about earlier. She could already imagine wearing it with the accompanying green feathered fascinator and fake emerald jewellery.

"What other secrets have you got for me?" She smiled lifting the envelope off the pillow beside her and opening it propping herself up on the pillows as she read;

_Ms Le-Qua makes it her mission to stir trouble in any situation she finds herself in. You should aim to goad Lady Veronica who is the embodiment of everything Suzanne hates. Emphasis the fact that she is making such a show of being a "lady" and be sure to point out that it is your experience that those who make the biggest show of being lady-like are the ones with the most sordid and darkest secrets._

"Oh Jean what sort of character are you actually going to be," She laughed imagining what might be her friend's characters secret and very much looking forward to finding out as she continued to read.

_When you find yourself alone with the Cornel make sure to point out that you know a lot of people who know everything that's going on in society circles and you know exactly what he's like. Name drop "Louisa Craig" ad be sure to not the reaction. Flirt mercilessly with Sebastian ensuring that you do so overtly and within view of the other characters and make a note of their reactions._

Setting the card aside she took in the details as she went to the small en-suite bathroom and started the water running in the claw foot bath. Interesting as she was sure the weekend was going to be she had to admit, if only to herself, that wasn't the reason she'd accepted the invitation. She had really hoped that the weekend might bring her and Robbie closer together. They'd tried a dozen times to move their relationship along but something always seemed to get in the way. Here though with characters to hide behind and away from the day to day pressures of work she hoped they might finally make some progress. To that end she was determined to look her best when she went down to dinner even if it took her the two hours between now and then to get ready.

"Oh great I hope the heating system in this place isn't as antiquated as the décor." James grumbled shrugging off his jacket and dropping it on the wooden rocking chair in the corner of the room. Turning on his heels he caught sight for the first time of the black velvet suit, white shirt and brightly coloured silk scarf hanging on the outside of the bathroom door and felt his heart sink. He'd known as soon as he read the information card on Sebastian Fleming-Rodgers that he wasn't going to like what he would be left to wear but this was even worse than he'd imagined. "I swear the first one of them that laughs when they see me in this will regret it!" He muttered as he kicked off his trainers and sat on the end of the bed ripping open the envelope that had been left for him and sighing as he started to read.

_Your sole mission for the evening is to get Lady Veronica alone to talk about the fact you have decided you want more from your relationship regardless of the effect that may have on either of your social standing. Sebastian has no respect for the cornel ad makes no show of pretending otherwise so you should be disparaging of his military career and his "after dinner" speeches. Suzanne Le' qua is another story she is clearly a flirtatious and extrovert character who is likely to make advances which you should rebuff unless directly able to play on any jealousy that might be elicited from Lady Veronica. When you finally do get to be alone you should point out to Lady Veronica that you are in love with her and you believe she loves you too._

"Great how are you going to pull this one off Hathaway? The minute you open your mouth she's going to know you're not acting." He snapped flopping backwards onto the bed and staring at the ceiling. He spent more time than he cared to admit admiring Jean Innocent from afar something her knew, or was as sure as he could be, she had no idea about. He'd imagined telling her how he felt, even more so since the breakup of her marriage, but he knew he never could. Now he was going to have to spend two days overtly acting like someone who was in love with her and all he could see for the end of that was disaster. Not only that but he was also going to have to pretend to flirt with Laura, someone he and anyone else who'd ever seen them together, knew Robbie was head over heels for even if he wasn't ready to admit it yet. All in all the weekend, he felt, was shaping up to one of disaster followed my disaster with a little more disaster thrown in for good measure. As he put his earphones in closing his eyes and letting the music coming through them wash over him he could only hope that they emerged from if still a team at all let alone a strong one.

"Thanks do we just…..well you know wait her until it's time for dinner?" Robbie asked as the rather stern looking young man who had been identified to them as Alistair set his weekend bag on the floor just inside the room.

"Yes sir your costume is there on the bed along with your instructions for the night." The young man replied before bowing exaggeratedly and leaving the room.

"Costume? My god man it's a sight!" He muttered to the empty room taking in the full military dress uniform spread out on the bed. The black trousers and white shirt weren't too bad but the over the top red jacket complete with medals was a step too far. Glancing at the waist measurements on the trousers he breathed a sigh of relief. When Jean had joked about them lying about their measurements when they'd given her them a few months before he'd briefly worried about what he'd put on the order form. He vaguely remembered being handed the form and her badgering him about returning it even though they were in the middle of a particularly complicated case so when he had filled it in he knew he would have been irritated enough to put anything on it.

Lifting the information card he shook his head as he opened the envelope. He wasn't of the same mind as James in believing Jean had allocated their characters but he did find it hard to believe that she'd had the cards since the day before and not looked at them and would be enjoying their discomfort. As he started to read he found nothing in what he was finding out that disproved that theory.

_Cornel McFarlan is arrogant, pompous and chauvinistic all qualities you should display tonight. He is also a great believer in the class system and as such should be deferential to Lady Veronica. _

"Jean Innocent there's no way you didn't have a hand in this." He laughed shaking his head as he continued to read.

_He should at all times be dismissive of Sebastian considering him to be an upstart with ideas above his station particularly when it comes to his attempts to endear himself to Lady Veronica. You should be sure when talking to Mr Fleming –Rodgers to point out that he would have no chance with a real lady and that he should stop harassing her. When approached by Ms Le-qua you should be appropriately smarmy and lecherous. As the night progresses you should act more and more drunk and finally point out that everyone has secrets and all secrets are dangerous but the ones people truly believe no one else knows are the most destructive._

"If I have to do all that I'll need to be drunk not just acting it." Robbie sighed sinking into the wing chair in the corner of the room resting his head back and closing his eyes. He still couldn't believe that they were here doing this and in a couple of hours they'd all be in full costume "acting" over dinner. Not only that but he didn't believe Jean had asked Laura along to make up the numbers there were plenty of female officers she could have asked. Jean Innocent was matchmaking again he could feel it in his bones. This time though she was actually on the right track and terrible as he was convinced the weekend had the potential to be at least he would be sharing it with Laura. If it went ok maybe he would finally get the chance to tell her he was sorry for all the "almost" times they'd shared over the years and see if she still wanted there to be someone more to their relationship than friendship.

"Are they all settled in?" The man in the smart butlers outfit asked as Mrs Montgomery entered the kitchen were a small group of people sat around the large wooden table.

"Yeah seems so do you have it ready?" She asked smiling as he handed her a red envelope from the table which she passed to Alistair. "You know what you do just make sure none of them see you. Put it under the door and get away again as quickly as possible.

"You don't need to tell me we've been doing this every other weekend for the last year no one has seen me yet." The younger man replied leaving the room sulkily climbing the stairs toward the bedroom doors. Listening carefully he noted the silence in the room before glancing up and down the corridor and slipping the red envelope under the door. Over time he'd developed the ability to read their "guests" as soon as they arrived. This time as he walked away leaving the "you are the murderer await further instructions" note for the room's tenant he couldn't help but smile. He had a feeling this was going to be one of the more interesting weekends and he was quite looking forward to it.


	3. Chapter 3

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

Who done it 3/?

"If you laugh I'm going home right now. I don't care if she puts me on traffic duty for the rest of my life for it I swear." James sighed walking into the drawing room of the house where Robbie was standing by the fire.

"She couldn't demote both of us could she? Let's make a run for it." He replied as they stared at each other for a second taking in the ridiculousness of each other's outfits. "Where are they anyway? We were told to be down here for eight why can't women ever be on bloody time?"

"You tell me, can you believe any of this? I mean what the hell? We…" James continued his words stopping in his throat as Jean and Laura walked through the door.

"On second thoughts maybe staying won't be so bad after all they look fantastic clearly we got the short end of the costume stick!" Robbie whispered before James could continue.

"Ladies and Gentlemen nice to see you all looking so well and that all your costumes fit. As you'll have deduced I'm sure since you are all police officers…."

"Not all of us." Laura interrupted smiling as the others laughed. "Some of us deal with the bodies rather than those who killed them."

"Sorry well anyway my name is Henderson and I'll be your butler for the weekend. It would be appreciated if you all remembered to stay in character during activities such as those tonight. Dinner will be served in thirty minutes in the mean time I will be around to keep you supplied with drinks and anything else you might need.

Watching as the man she now knew for definite was destined to be their victim Jean straightened a little tucking her hair behind one ear as she saw James walk toward her.

"Lady Veronica you're looking particularly stunning tonight." James said quietly deciding that if he was going to be allowed to openly flirt with her he might as well make the most of it. She did look stunning and it was becoming very hard for him to ignore the way the midnight blue dress hugged her hips and the small glimpse of naked shoulder he could see under the fur wrap.

"Thank you Sebastian." Jean replied turning her back and attempting to ignore him as per her instructions but finding it even harder than she'd imagined it would be as she felt his gaze still on her back. Trying to move away she caught his gaze challenging him to keep trying her patience as he stepping in front of her smiling again.

"Don't ignore me I want to talk. I think we need to talk. You can't spend the whole weekend pretending I'm hot here we need to talk about what's …"

"We have nothing to talk about Sebastian." She said quietly turning on her heels and staring at him pulling on every ounce of acting talent she believed she might have as she stepped toward him looking him straight in the eye. "And yes if necessary I can and will ignore you for the entire weekend if that's what it takes to get through to you."

Turning again and walking away Jean let out the breath she'd been holding and allowed herself a small smile of triumph. She was proud of how she'd managed to handle the scene one she was sure would be the first of many but which she now found herself looking forward to.

"Drink your ladyship?" She heard the butler say quietly when she had reached the other side of the room and realised in her haste to get away from James she'd managed to isolate herself with the one person in the room no one wanted to be seen talking to.

"Thank you Henderson." She replied taking the champagne flute off the tray in his hand and trying to move around him only to find him deliberately blocking her way.

"I see young Mr Fleming-Rodgers is quite determined to get your ladyship's full attention. Clearly he considers it worth his while to pursue you based on past experience. You know discretion is the watch word at Marsden Manor and the staff, myself included, can be relied upon to ensure that what goes on under this room stays under this roof."

"I don't know what you're insinuating Henderson." Jean replied feeling herself bristle at the suggestion being made in his tone in spite of the fact she knew he was as likely to have been scripted to say it as she'd been to react to it. She found herself actually feeling the indignation she was sure her character would feel it the situation were real as she finally broke away and joined the others in the chairs surrounding the fireplace.

"It's a beautiful house." Laura smiled sitting a little too close to James on the sofa as Jean and Robbie took the wing chairs on either side of the fireplace. She'd been carefully watching the short exchange between Jean and James and the subsequent one between Jean and the butler and was sure now was time to start on the mission she'd been given. "You know there's a huge four poster in my bedroom complete with drapes and everything." She continued directing her comment at James as she saw his eyes flit from her to Jean and back again.

"Really?" James ask letting his hand rest on Laura's knee ignoring the daggers that were shooting in his direction from Robbie and instead focusing on the equally venomous look being thrown his way by Jean. He had to hand it to her she was a much better actress than he'd ever have given her credit for. Either that or she was genuinely jealous a thought he tried to push to the back of his mind and focus on what he had to do.

"Well Ms Le' qua I think you'll find some of us not so easily swayed by opulence. Then again it's clearly a case of what one is used to from one's surroundings." Jean interrupted before he had a chance to speak again causing the two women to engage in a momentary stare off before Laura looked back at him and smiled.

"Well Lady Veronica." She replied not taking her eyes from James's as she spoke. "Maybe some of us still have an appreciation for attractiveness in all it's forms whether that be in exquisitely ornate furniture or the perfectly sculpted human form. Personally I thought this weekend was going to be rather tedious now though I'm not so sure."

"Well I can't say I was particularly looking forward to it myself." James said quietly playing along and finding himself enjoying doing so as again he observed Jean shift in her seat. "But as you say things may have just taken a turn for the better."

"Sebastian how about a game of billiards before dinner?" Robbie interrupted nodding toward the table at the far end of the room as all eyes turned to him. "Build up and appetite and all that."

Smiling at James as he got up and glaring pointedly at Jean as she also got up Laura moved to the side of the fire watching the logs crackle as they broke in the flames.

"Excuse me Ms Le' qua." Henderson said quietly breaking her from her contemplation as he lifted two new logs from the basket beside the fire and placed them on it. "Forgive my impertinence madam but haven't we met before? Possibly at one of my previous positions?"

"I can't think where." Laura replied giving him an icy stare and about to walk away when she felt his hand resting gently on her arm as she saw Jean watching their exchange." To Henderson I don't think it's advisable to manhandle a guest."

"I beg your pardon madam it's just that I'm sure I saw you when I worked for the Blythe's 20 maybe 25 years ago. Their niece came to stay she'd got herself in rather a situation with her family's under butler. Stayed a good eight or nine months you do bear a striking resemblance to the young woman." The butler replied removing his hand and nodding as he left her alone again and she cringed slightly as Jean headed her way.

"You know when I was serving on the western front." Robbie said, pulling on everything he could remember from school history once he and James were alone again. "it was very easy for the young men on leave to get a little carried away with the local girls, get a little over familiar if you know what I mean. Over step the mark."

"No colonel I have no idea what you mean do enlighten me." James replied enjoying a little too much Robbie's obvious discomfort.

"Well it's a poor show for a man like yourself to be attempting to make unwanted advances toward a woman like Lady Veronica." Robbie continued vowing that he would make James pay for the amused eyebrow raise his Agatha Christie style language has elicited. "And as for Ms Le' qua you really shouldn't be encouraging her to make such a spectacle of herself. It's just not on for a man particularly one of you status to be so blatantly playing one woman off against the other. It has to stop."

"And what Colonel do you suppose gives you the right to declare yourself guardian of our female companions? I can't imagine either of them asked a washed up ex-soldier with wandering hands and clearly lecherous intentions to undertake such a task." James replied setting the billiard cue down, drawing himself up to his full height and trying to muster as much indignation as anyone could when wearing a crushed velvet suit. "I think you'll find they are both more than capable of defending their own honour and should they find they're not I don't suppose you would be their first choice to do it for them."

"Now boys try to play nice." Laura interrupted leaning back on the billiard table and capturing Robbie in her most seductive gaze as James saw his means of escape.

Making a beeline for Jean to continue his pestering mission he was stopped on route as the butler stepped in front of him holding out the drinks tray.

"Do have another drink sir." Henderson said firmly refusing to let James pass. "You know sire it doesn't do, as I'm the colonel just told you, to make advances toward a lady such as Ms Le' qua when it is clearly distressing for her ladyship."

"Henderson I don't feel it's your place to comment on the private lives of guests and even if it where you are not in a position to know anything about my relationship with any other the others." James replied trying not to be distracted by the sight of Jean silhouetted against the light from the fire.

"Obviously sir but gossip does permeate form one house to another and between domestic staff. You wouldn't want your feelings for her ladyship to become part of the rumour mill it may make things very difficult for you. Here of course we are the souls of discretion but these rumours will get started."

Opening his mouth to reply James realised the butler had not waited for an answer but instead was making his way to the other side of the room where Robbie and Laura were deep in conversation. Glancing back at Jean he allowed himself to indulge for a second in watching her as she seemed lost in contemplation. The way the fire seemed to be highlighting the colour of her eyes and gave her skin a soft glow was captivating and something he could stare at for hours were it not for the fact he had become aware again of the butler's eyes on him.

"That's a fascinating story Colonel." Laura said as sweetly as she could muster taking a step back as Robbie played what she knew was his role to perfection and closed the distance between them again.

"Well you don't need to go throwing yourself at that young upstart Fleming-Rodgers you know what you really need is a fella who's been around the world and really lived." Robbie replied hating his own smarminess as Laura again stepped away from him.

"Yes I'm all too aware of the many, many place's you've been." She said quietly "I know several women who could testify to your worldliness."

"Excuse me Ms Le' qua, colonel dinner is being served no in the dining room." Henderson interrupted before Robbie had a chance to reply.

"Thank you Henderson." Laura smiled stepping away from both men as Robbie tried to follow but was blocked on his way.

"You don't seem to remember me sir." Henderson said quietly as the room began to empty and Robbie saw James glance back at them. "Private Henderson we served together in…"

"Yes, yes of course." He lied trying again to step past the butler but failing.

"Well I'm glad you remember sir, I certainly remember you. I've had the privilege of attending some of your public lectures also. I'd recommend them to some of our comrades but I'm not sure Colonel Symington would have found it so entertaining. He may have felt compelled to tell people the real reason you left active service."

"I don't think that information would be in anyone best interests should it be in the public domain." Robbie replied his eyes narrowing as the butler walked away toward the dining room leaving him alone.

"They're all in the dining room ready for the first course." Henderson said a few moments later as he arrived back into the kitchen and several waiters nodded before leaving with plates and serving dishes.

"How is it looking? Are they playing along?" Mrs Montgomery asked handing him a cup of coffee before sitting beside him.

"Yeah better than I was expecting then too but I'll tell you something, there's enough sexual tension flying around that room to power a small country."

"Is there now? That should make for an interesting evening."

"Oh yes." Henderson agreed winking at her as he drained the cup and headed out of the room pausing as he went. "The after dinner drinks should be very entertaining I think we can expect fireworks."


	4. Chapter 4

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it? 4/?**

"You're starter for this evening is chicken liver pate with a cranberry jelly. Enjoy and should you require anything else don't hesitate to call." Henderson said sombrely before leaving the dining room as two equally sour looking waiters set the small starter plates in front of them.

"At least the menu isn't Edwardian." Robbie sighed looking around as the others all seemed lost in their own contemplation and ignored him.

"True that might have been a step too far. I don't know if I could have stomached brown Windsor soup and whatever other horrors that might have been thrown at us." Jean agreed her tone distracted as she observed how Laura was managing to stay completely in character making eyes across the table at James as Robbie looked on venomously.

The flirting was annoying her more than she'd thought it would and "acting" like it did was proving unnecessary. The way Henderson had been so quick to point out that the staff knew how to be discrete told her that the secrets they were trying to keep from each other were clearly not secret from him. Try as she might she was finding it impossible to switch of her detective's radar and she had noted the change in Laura's demeanour following her fireside exchange with the butler. Robbie and James's conversation at the billiard table had also peaked her interest, something was said that had made them both bristle and she was determined to use the after dinner drinks session to find out exactly what it was.

"Lady Veronica, can I refill your drink?" James asked from the other side of the table as her eyes met his and she was sure she felt his foot brush her calf under the table.

"Thank you Sebastian" She replied as he noted the way she held his gaze a little longer than was necessary and was given courage by the fact he was sure she'd felt his over familiar gesture under the table and hadn't seemed perturbed by it. Walking to her side he leaned a little closer than was required topping up her wine glass and took a second to absorb the heady mix of her perfume and the strawberries he'd long ago decided laced her shampoo.

"You're blocking the waiter's way Sebastian." Laura cooed moving to his side and placing a hand on his back to guide him away as one set of waiters lifted the empty starter plates and another left small plates of salmon and salad.

"Your fish course this evening is seared salmon on a bed of spinach salad. When you've finished we'll have a short break between courses in which the gentlemen may retire for brandy in the drawing room while the ladies have a chance to freshen up.

"Oh I've heard it all now." Jean muttered as she and Laura exchanged glances of disbelief and James briefly thought they might end up going home early after all. One thing you could be sure of and one of the things he loved about Jean was that she was all woman but was also ready to castrate the first man who suggested because she was a woman she was less worthy of respect.

"We should eat." He said quietly letting his hand briefly rest on Laura's hip, ensuring that both Jean and Robbie where watching. "I'd hate to miss brandy in the drawing room and I'm sure you two are anxious to freshen up.

There it was again, he was sure of it; beneath the angry "don't push it" glance at his comment there was a definite jealous edge gaze as her eyes practically scalded his fingers where they rested on Laura's hip. Robbie on the other hand looked like he was about to get up and tell him to remove his hand from Laura or he'd do it for him and it brought to mind their conversation earlier. Based on the fact his card had instructed him to be as derogatory about the colonel's military career as possible he was sure there must have been some sort of cloud hanging over it that Robbie in the form of the colonel was trying very hard to keep under wraps.

As they all fell silent again eating the next tiny portion of food it occurred to him that in the short time they had been in the drawing room pre-dinner Henderson had made it his mission to talk to each of them alone. Clearly the reason for his murder was in one of those conversations but he knew none of his friends would give up the content of them easily. Maybe though in the right circumstances he might be able to get Henderson himself to let slip a few details of the other conversations he'd had.

"Gentlemen Mrs Montgomery has laid out brandy in the drawing room and we'll reconvene here in thirty minutes for your main course." Henderson interrupted pulling James from his thoughts as everyone else moved and he saw his opportunity to get Jean alone. Laura was already half way to the stairs where their rooms were and Robbie couldn't get to the drawing room fast enough so they found themselves alone together in the dining room. Grabbing her gently by the wrist he pulled her into the corner away from the door and out of sight.

"You can't ignore me all night we need to talk." He whispered pulling on all his acting skills not to back down as she looked at his fingers on her wrist. He knew he'd never be likely to get the chance to act this way with her in real life so he planned to make the most of it.

"James….I mean Sebastian I can ignore you and I will this is neither the time nor the place for discussions of a personal nature." Jean replied sighing as she attempted to walk away but he stepped in front of her blocking her way.

"I love you and I think you love me. Why does it have to be so hard to admit that? Are you really so scared of what other's will think?" He continued no longer feeling like he was in character at all but that the words were his own heart felt plea.

"How dare you claim to know what I feel or don't feel?" She snapped back the defensiveness in her tone again spiking his need to see how much of what she was saying was an act. Closing the already tiny distance between them he wasn't even aware of having made the decision to do it until his lips were on hers and after only a moment of struggle she melted into his kiss. In the second of clarity that preceded him getting completely lost in her he told himself that id she slapped him and told him he was out of line he could at least use the defence that he'd been instructed to kiss her even if that wasn't strictly true.

"Tell me again you don't love me and that you could kiss anyone the way you've just kissed me if you didn't" he said a moment later as she finally pulled away from him leaving the room without a word. So distracted was he as he followed her, the memory of their kiss still making his lips tingle, that he didn't notice as she hadn't that Laura was standing outside the door. The doctor however had seen everything from her position hidden from view behind the large grandfather clock in the hallway and was now smirking smugly.

"Well, well Jean Innocent you dark horse." Laura smiled as she retrieved the small clutch bag she'd forgotten and which had been the cause of her witnessing the exchange and climbed the stairs again. Reaching the top she thought for a second before turning left toward Jean's room instead of right towards her own.

"The brandy is on the table by the fireplace." Robbie said as James made it into the drawing room. He had no idea what had taken his sergeant so long to make the short journey from the dining room to the drawing room but he'd hazard a guess it was because he was once again flirting with Laura. Try as he might he couldn't set aside the jealousy that was being caused by watching those exchanges. Even though he knew in real life that James and Laura had absolutely no interest in each other romantically it didn't seem to stop the overwhelming jealousy he was feeling.

"Thank you colonel." James replied the distracted edge to his voice grabbing Robbie's attention. He'd noted the conversation between James and the butler immediately after their man-to-man chat and how it seemed to cause an air of tension in the room. He's also noticed a similar exchanged between Laura and Henderson which had been even more detrimental to the temperature in the room. What was it Laura was hiding and would her character be prepared to kill to keep it from getting out?

As it became clear that whatever had delayed James was distracting him so much further conversation was unlikely he began to wonder how the next part of the evening would go and when exactly the murder would take place. Would their murderer have to actually do anything or would they simply round a corner tonight or wake up in the morning to find a corpse? Irritated as he was by the costumes, the silly characters and the shear humiliation of watching James flirt with Laura he couldn't help but find the concept of the weekend fascinating. The idea that one of them would actually be responsible for the death and that a detective, even a fictional one, would put them all on the other side of the investigating fence for once was actually an interesting idea though still not one he was sure would me everything else worthwhile.

"Do you think since they've banished up here for half an hour we're allowed to slip out of character for that time?" Laura asked after waiting for what seemed like an age for Jean to open the door.

"I don't care if we're allowed or not I am. Can you believe this?" Jean asked standing aside to let Laura in before pouring her a scotch from the table in the corner. "I mean I know it's supposed to be an Edwardian theme and all that but I've never let anyone put me out of a room because I'm a woman and it took all my self-control to let it happen tonight."

"Yeah that would explain it then." Laura smiled raising a "don't give me that look" eyebrow as Jean stared back her in confusion. "If all your self-control was busy stopping you bursting through the drawing room door demanding equal rights for women it would explain how none of it was involved in that kiss I just witnessed. God Jean there was more heat in that kiss than there was coming off the open fire in the drawing room. You and James? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Don't be ridiculous Laura." Jean scoffed feeling a flush come to her cheeks as Laura laughed. "It's all part of the game, acting that's all it was."

"Yeah right you're coppers not actors and there was no acting going on there. If you're actually telling me there was then you should both leave the force immediately because you could give Helen Mirren and Liam Neason a run for their money in the Oscar race." Laura laughed wondering for a second if Jean was actually in denial about the fact she was attracted to James and blind to the fact the feeling was completely mutual. "Have you not actually been watching him tonight he's been….."

"Yes I've been watching him have the time of his life flirting with you, and I've been watching him doing so drive Robbie up the wall. If you want to get into who wouldn't need to act their part then you two are right up there."

"Stop changing the subject Jean." Laura sighed glancing at her watch and realising them only had five minutes before they were due downstairs again. "He may be flirting with me and allowing me to flirt with him but it's all for your benefit and don't try to tell me it hasn't been bothering you just as much as it's bothering Robbie because then I'll know you're lying."

"The whole idea that James could be even remotely attracted to me is ridiculous Laura and we need to get back downstairs." Jean replied quietly setting her glass on the dressing table and freshening her still slightly smudged lipstick in the mirror.

"He is whether you want to believe it or not." Laura smiled discarding her own glass moving to the door and stopping briefly "And I notice you didn't say it was ridiculous that you would be attracted to him."

"Stick to pathology Laura and leave the detective work to us!" Jean smiled as she was left alone again. Taking a final glance at her reflection she gently touched her lips which still ached slightly for the loss of his. For the first time since they'd arrived she was starting to wonder how wise it had been to isolate them all in such strange circumstances for the entire weekend. If things kept going the way they were the fake murder of an actor pretending to be a butler was going to be the least of their worries.


	5. Chapter 5

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter **

**Who done it 5/?**

"Ladies and gentlemen if you look on the mantel piece there are envelopes with each of your names on them. If you wouldn't mind lifting the one which corresponds to your character and finding a quiet corner to look it over before we continue it would be much appreciated." Henderson said standing aside to allow them access to the drawing room again at the end of the meal as they followed him into the room glancing at each other before following his instructions.

Moving to the far side of the room where no one else seemed in a hurry to follow Jean opened her envelop and read silently a small smile tugging at her lips as she saw how the evening was to pan out.

_Lady Veronica, following a particularly obvious display of flirting between Ms Le'Qua and Sebastian you should bring up Ms Le'Qua's ex-husband, ask questions, appear disapproving of the fact she's divorced comment on how some women have no concept of commitment etc. It's very important that you do not let the matter drop even if she appears to be losing her temper and is determined in her defence of her own actions. In the corner of the room you'll find a black box please place this card back in the envelope and put it into that box._

Glancing around she noted the position of the box before with a final look at her instructions Jean moved toward it glancing to the left of it where Robbie was completely engrossed in what he was reading.

_Colonel, there will be an argument tonight, when this argument breaks out you are to initially insist on not taking sides however once it gets heated you are to pick a side and once that decision is made you must stick with it no matter what happens or whether it turns out you agree with it or not. In the corner of the room you'll find a black box please place this card back in the envelope and put it into that box._

Grumbling quietly to himself Robbie looked around at the others wondering who the argument was to be between. Jean had already disposed of her envelope and was standing by the widow looking out at the night sky. The contemplative edge to her look made him almost sure that she was going to be one of the participants and the only question was which of the others would be on the receiving end of her arguing skills. Putting the card in the box and resisting the temptation to peak at hers he couldn't help but smile. Over the years he'd had more than one argument with Jean Innocent and he didn't envy anyone who was doing to come up against her tonight. Watching James's look become decidedly serious as he opened his envelop he wondered briefly if it was him and thought it might be worth watching if it was.

Pretending to read his card James looked around over the top of it Robbie and Jean had already deposited their cards back in the box in the corner of the room and he was pretty sure his would give him the same instructions. So far though he'd been squirreling away his cards in an effort to remember what might be the only weekend he was ever openly able to show his feelings for Jean and he was sure he'd want to keep this one too as he started to read.

_Sebastian, you should make as much effort as possible to flirt with Ms Le'Qua until such times as an argument breaks out in the room. When the row starts you should sit back and watch the fireworks UNTIL lady Veronica is insulted directly then you should become defensive of her, take her side completely and take exception to anyone who doesn't. You should see this as your one chance to show her how serious you are and you should make the most of it._ _In the corner of the room you'll find a black box please place this card back in the envelope and put it into that box._

Walking toward the box in the corner he lifted the lid glancing around to make sure he wasn't being observed before pretending to put the card inside and instead slipping it into the inside pocket of his jacket. If defend Jean in whatever was about to occur was his role it was one he could easily play and as he saw Laura glance questioningly in his direction before turning her attention back to her own envelope he wondered if the theme of the two women playing off each other was going to continue with the evenings argument.

Watching as James walked away from the box still convinced that she hadn't seen him put his envelope inside Laura smiled. She was still convinced there was more to the kiss she'd witnessed than Jean had been prepared to admit upstairs and as she started to read her card she decided that there may actually be a way to find out.

_Ms Le'Qua as the evening progresses you will be confronted with some uncomfortable and should begin by answering with polite irritation then as the questioning/comments about your lifestyle persist you should engage in an argument when you feel this has come to a head you should storm out of the room and will be met by a member of staff who will give you further instructions. In the corner of the room you'll find a black box please place this card back in the envelope and put it into that box._

Opening the box and confirming her suspicion that there was only 2 cards rather than 3 inside Laura smiled before taking up her seat on the couch in front of the fire as Henderson re-entered the room carrying a tray with a decanter of Brandy, glasses and coffee pot and cups.

"Post dinner refreshments." He said loudly setting the tray on the table in the middle of the seating area and leaving again as James poured himself and Laura a brandy before sitting beside her ignoring the stare his actions got from Robbie.

"So Ms Le'Qua….."

"Please do we have to be so formal Sebastian call me Suzanne." Laura cooed closing the already tiny gap between them so she was all but sitting on his lap. "You and I should really spend some time together away from this place, do you have plans for next weekend?"

"Nothing that's important." James replied glancing at Jean as he rested his arm on the back of the sofa letting his fingers brush Laura's naked shoulder. "I'd be delighted to spend some time with you, I can think of….."

"I'm sure she'd rather spend the evening with someone who could take her to places of real class that a woman of her ….."

"Now Colonel money isn't everything….." Laura interrupted running her fingers over James knee feeling him tense and the heat from Jean's gaze become almost nuclear. "I'm sure Sebastian could show me a very good time without…"

"So Suzanne how long is it now since you left your husband? Two, three years isn't it? I seem to remember hearing that was because you were a little too fond of being shown a "good" time." Jean broke in as Robbie and James both stared at her the calm cutting edge to her tone being a little too much like the one she used when she was just about to tear a strip off them for comfort.

"Not quite three years yet Veronica." Laura replied throwing back the contemptuous use of her characters first name with an equally scathing rendition of Jean's "And unfortunately my husband was under the impression that marriage signified that I should spend every night staring at him while he worked and ignored me. Personally that wasn't how I envisaged my life. Some women are content to stay at home dutifully doing what their husband tells them until he ups and dies on them others need a little variety in life."

"I think you'll find some women understand that marriage is a commitment not one to be thrown away because you'd rather act like a common harlot." Jean threw back trying her best to stay in character in spite of the little voice in her head pointing out that is wasn't that long ago she'd finally given up on her own marriage and wasn't this whole discussion a little hypocritical? One look at James still with his arms rested firmly over Laura's shoulder however was all it took to bring back her conviction in playing her part if only so there was a chance however small that at some point over the weekend he might kiss her again like he had earlier that night. "I'm not one to indulge in idle gossip[ but from what I heard you didn't walk away from your marriage you were forcibly ejected from it by a husband who was mortified by your behaviour and who only pays you such a generous allowance to avoid further embarrassment."

"I think you'll find that the circumstances of the end of my marriage are no one else's business." Laura spat back getting into the scene as she and Jean stared at each other and the nervous tension radiating from Robbie and James only made it more amusing. "And frankly if we are going to get into a discussion about what is common then taking interest in the lives of others because your own is so boring is in my opinion as common as it's possible to get!"

"I'd rather be thought of as boring than be seen to throw myself at any man with a pulse, you have done everything but lay down in front of Sebastian all evening if that isn't the actions of a….."

"Now your ladyship I don't believe Ms Le'Qua is completely to blame in this situation while it's true she has been possibly a little over courteous where young Fleming-Rodgers is concerned it's him that has been out of line throughout the night." Robbie interrupted as Jean and Laura finally stood toe to toe in the middle of the small seating area "He's clearly a man who needs to be the centre of attention and you should both stop this argument immediately it is most unladylike for women to be throwing insults at each other."

"Well maybe if she wasn't so jealous of the fact he's been showing me some attention she wouldn't feel the need to act in such an unladylike fashion." Laura snapped her eyes narrowing as Jean's challenged her to keep talking. "I mean exactly how classy is it your ladyship to be jealous of two people you clearly consider beneath you…."

"That's out of line Ms Le'Qua!" James interrupted standing up and clearly nailing his colours to the mast by taking a step closer to Jean and away from Laura as Robbie unconsciously did the opposite. "Lady Veronica has more class in her little finger than you could ever hope of having."

"Oh finally he speaks." Robbie scoffed glaring at James as the temperature in the room seemed to have soared and for a second they all stared at each other. "You have clearly been using Ms Le'Qua to make her ladyship jealous all evening and the fact that it has worked shows that she is certainly no better and probably a lot worse than Suzanne could ever be."

"Is that so colonel?" Jean replied her voice level again as she met Laura's eyes and a second of understanding flashed between them before she continued. "If you want to talk about jealousy you have been indulging rather a lot in that particular sin yourself this evening it's obvious to me that what has truly irked you is not that Sebastian has been flirting with her but that Ms Le'Qua has been so ready to accept his attentions. Maybe if you knew some of the other things that have been said about her you wouldn't be so quick to jump to her defence!"

"I've had enough of this!" Laura spat pulling away from the main group and pausing at the door to throw a final glance back into the room as the others stared after her before stepping into the hall where she was met by a young woman who pointed silently to a door next to the drawing room before leading her inside.

"She's had enough? Well frankly I can't think of any reason to stay in the room with you for another second Colonel so if you'll both excuse me I'm going to retire for the night." Jean said quietly after the silence that had greeted Laura's departure became almost deafening. Leaving the room she paused half way up the stairs as she saw Henderson standing at the top and nodded silently as he indicated that she should follow him into the bathroom at the top of the stairs.

"Well that was an interesting end to the night I don't think either of us have any more to say to each other." James sighed following Jean out into the hallway and glancing around realising she was already gone and he was alone except for the footman who had shown them to their rooms at the beginning of the day.

"Mr Fleming-Rodgers could I have a moment of your time." The young man whispered nodding toward the corner of the hall. "Could we have your scarf please sir, Mrs Montgomery noticed a small stain on it earlier and she has asked me to get it from you so it can be laundered."

"There's nothing on the….." James began before realising that he clearly wasn't actually being asked but rather instructed to hand over the garment as he did so and was left alone again. In the silence of the hall he was sure he could hear voices coming from behind the door that had been closed to them all evening and which he assumed lead to the kitchen. Stepping closer he was able to hear more muffled conversation but nothing to make the situation any clearer as he sighed a final time and mounted the stairs to bed.

"So you understand what you have to do next?" The young woman said quietly as Laura nodded and handed over the small jewelled bracelet she'd been wearing all evening. "Ok well good night then, sleep well."

Exiting the room before the younger woman did Laura glanced into the drawing room again where Robbie was now sitting alone by the fire and was about to go back in for a moment when she thought they could possibly slip out of character for a second when she saw Mrs Montgomery approach him and moved quickly in the direction of the stairs before she was spotted.

"Colonel I see one of the buttons on your tunic is loose." Mr Montgomery said quietly startling Robbie from his contemplations as she smiled down at him. "Take it off and I'll have it mended and returned to you in the morning. Then might I suggest that you take your lead from your colleagues and turn in for the night tomorrow is another day and one never knows when one might need all the sleep one can get."

"Right, yeah of course." Robbie nodded taking off the red dress jacket he'd been wearing all evening and handing it to the elderly woman before leaving the room getting to the top of the stairs and putting his hand on the bathroom door to go on before stopping and detouring back toward his own room as he heard Jean's voice inside.

"Will this do?" Jean asked pulling one of the ornate clips from the French roll in her hair and handing it to the butler.

"That will do just fine, thank you your ladyship. Sleep well." Henderson smiled leaving the bathroom as Jean stared at the closed door. If she was honest the events of the night had been such a strange mix of confusion, excitement, and heart pounding adrenalin rushes that she wasn't sure she would sleep at all and it was only the first night if this kept up she wasn't sure she could keep up with the pace for the rest of the weekend.

"Have we got everything?" Henderson asked a few minutes later as he and the other actors stared at the table containing the scarf, tunic button, hair clip and bracelet.

"Yeah we're all set, what time will we kick off in the morning?" Mrs Montgomery asked sinking into one of the chairs behind the table and accepting the glass of wine offered to her by the young woman playing the house maid.

"The usual we'll let them get breakfast over and then you can tell them that the second session starts at 10 by then I'll be in position, Sally are you set of the big body find about 10:30?"

"Yep do you think they're going to be able to rein in the whole being police officers thing? We've never had actual detectives on one of these things before?"

"I've no idea." Henderson smiled "But either way I think it's going to be a good day tomorrow, I mean when was the last time the first night went this well? They are either loving every minute of it or are even better actors than we are!"


	6. Chapter 6

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter **

**Who done it 6/?**

Slipping off the stiletto sandals that were now starting to seriously pinch at her toes and flopping back on the bed Jean sighed. It had certainly proved to be an interesting day and she wasn't sure how exactly it was supposed to improve the dynamic of their team. They'd been thrown together, torn apart, had fights, were keeping secrets basically everything she felt was detrimental to a team seemed to have been one of the themes since they arrived.

"Gorgeous as you are and everything I am glad to get rid of you for the night." She muttered as she slipped out of the evening gown quickly dressing in her night gown and dressing gown as the chill in the room attacked her skin. Sitting at the ornate dressing table in the corner of the she started taking off her make up her mind wandering again to earlier in the evening and the kiss she and James had shared. Since Laura had talked to her about it she'd tried hard to push the thought that there was more to it than mere acting out of her head but now that she was alone and the only thing she had left to think about what sleep it was coming back and turning her feelings about him and what they might ever be to each other on their head.

The tension flying around between Laura and Robbie was nothing new it was common knowledge that they should and probably would one day be together. Simply working with them on a day to day basis was an exercise is wading through unresolved sexual tension and putting them together in this situation was only ever going to heighten that. Her and James had never been something she'd seriously considered to be a possibility before though much as she had to admit she'd like there to be more between them she'd never believed there could be but what if Laura was right what if he hadn't kissed her because some instruction card had told him to? What if he was trying to tell her something in that kiss, what if he was hoping she'd realise that he wanted more to?

"What if, what if, what if. God Jean would you listen to yourself this place is starting to get to you pull yourself together and get on with things you know he's not interested." She scolded herself shaking her head at her own reflection and getting up. "Bed before you decide you should just go down the corridor and throw yourself at him throwing your dignity and your career out the window at the same time!"

Getting up she was about to follow her own instructions when there was a quiet knock at the door and her heart stopped briefly for a second until a crisp white envelope was pushed under the door and she let out the breath she was holding and laughed quietly.

"See you're going mad the door can't even knock now without you thinking it's him." She sighed picking up the envelope and opening the door a little to make sure there wasn't actually anyone on the other side before closing it and sitting on the bed opening the envelope.

"_Dining room, 20 minutes, come as you are "Lady Veronica" costume not required."_

Glancing around the room for a second with narrowed eyes she wondered how they could possibly know she was no longer in costume, where they being watched? Was there more to the over the top ornaments and excessive numbers of mirrors in the room hiding something that she was sure she wouldn't want to be there. Finally shaking her head again at the fact she was definitely having a problem with an over active imagination that night she sigh. They probably knew that after an evening of being stuck in uncomfortable and uncharacteristic period costume they would all change as soon as possible after returning to their rooms.

"Well costume required or not I'm not wandering around a house like this in the middle of the night in my dressing gown." She laughed going to the wardrobe and pulling out the casual trousers and shirt she'd been wearing when they arrived and dressing quickly.

"I told you it was going to be fun didn't I?" Laura smiled lying on her bed and talking quietly into her phone as she heard Robbie huff quietly on the other end. "Don't be such a misery you can't tell me you didn't enjoy all that tonight it's great to step out of our ordinary lives to do something like this and you shouldn't be so angry with Jean she wasn't actually having a go at me tonight "Lady Veronica" was having a go at "Suzanne Le Qua" I think she did a great job if the station had an am-dram group I'd be suggesting she sign up right away and I might actually consider joining her."

"It's fine for you two you get to look gorgeous and play sophisticated feisty women which isn't exactly a huge leap for either of you I'm suck being some sort of ex-army pervert with wandering hands and a deferential attitude to the aristocracy!" Robbie replied. She could almost see him flopping down huffily on the bed as she heard the loud creak that seemed to be a feature of the antique beds and briefly thought how impossible it would be to get up to anything you didn't want everyone else in the house to know about considering the noise they would make! "As for James he's getting on like he can't decide which of you he wants to have slept with by the end of the weekend."

"Oh he could decide very easily." Laura laughed wondering if it was wise to tell Robbie about the kiss she'd witnessed earlier then deciding it probably wouldn't matter if she did because he'd be as quick to dismiss it as all part of the act as Jean had been. "You know he's crazy about Jean don't you? You have actually noticed the way he looks at her?"

"Laura now you're being ridiculous you're letting the whole weekend thing go to your head." He laughed as she rolled her yes.

"For such a great detective you're completely blind to things going on right under your nose. Just watch them for a few weeks, not here when we get home and see if I'm not right."

"Yeah well he's doing a pretty good job of flirting with you if he's crazy about her."

"Robbie please tell me you aren't actually jealous. You can't seriously think I'd be interested in James and I've already told you he'd not be interested in me. You know I saw them kissing earlier and I don't mean a friendly peck on the check Robbie. It was so full of electricity it could have powered this dinosaur of a house for a month." Laura sighed getting off the bed and moving around the room hanging up the dress she'd got out of as quickly as possible on returning to her room in favour of joggers and a t-shirt which was much more conducive to flopping around in.

"It'll have been part of the act Laura one or other of them will have been told to initiate a kiss, you're far too romantic for your own good." Robbie replied lying back on the pillows on his bed and trying very hard to think if there had ever been a moment when he'd thought for a second that James might have feelings for their boss and again dismissing the thought as ridiculous.

"You believe what you want to but I know what I saw and I spoke to her afterward she didn't start it but she did a rubbish job of hiding the fact she wasn't pleased about it." Laura continued causing him to roll his eyes as his attention was caught by a flash of white under his door and he excused himself setting down his phone still attached to the charger on the bedside table before retrieving it and reading the card inside.

"_Do you know where all your fellow guests are tonight? Do you care?"_

Shaking his head he went back to the phone still clutching the white card and picked it up again.

"You're not going to believe the card I just got under my door it said…." He began realising the line had gone dead on the other side and shaking his head as he hit redial and listened to it ring before going to voice mail as he stared at it.

Back in her room Laura looked at the person standing on the other side of her bedroom door when she'd opened it trying to process what they'd said.

"It won't take long Doctor if you could just come with me for a few minutes." The young man repeated taking the phone from her and putting it on the small table inside the door before motioning for her to follow him into the hall.

"It's the middle of the night and I'm not in costume." Laura protested before sighing heavily and stepping out into the hall glancing at her phone for a second before the man closed the door and she followed him down the hall.

Sitting cross legged in the middle of his bed with all the cards he'd received since arriving at the house in front of him James stubbed out his cigarette in the small saucer that was doubling as an ash tray and took a swig from the coffee he'd made on returning to his room which was now getting seriously cold.

Setting aside all that had gone on throughout the evening he was trying to cut through it all to the facts of what they had discovered about each of their characters in an effort to see if there were any clues yet as to which of them would be responsible for the death of the butler. All he was finding though was that every one of them appeared at this stage to have a motive, the butler had spoken to each of them alone and they had all disclosed things in the course of the night that would have made them possible suspects but then he was starting to realise that was the point.

He had enjoyed the evening more than he was expecting to and he knew he'd be lying if he said that wasn't almost entirely because of the interactions he'd had with Jean and how he was finding it harder to believe that all of her jealousy at his attentions toward Laura was play acting. The highlight of the night however had been the kiss, there was no way to dismiss the fact that she had obviously been as active a participant in it as he had. After he initial shock she'd yielded to him in a way he'd only ever felt in his darkest fantasies about the woman he spent more time imagining kissing and doing many other things with than he would care to admit to anyone and now he couldn't get it out of his head. Gathering up the cards again and slipping them into the drawer beside the bed he was about to attempt to sleep when there was a knock at the door followed by an even louder one and a third that was so hard it made the wood vibrate as he reached for the handle.

"James is Jean here?" Robbie asked storming into the room as he opened it nearly knocking him off his feet as he did. "Or Laura?"

"No of course they aren't why would they be here?" He replied watching as his friend paced the room glancing in and out of the bathroom and doing everything but look under the bed and in the wardrobe in search of their female companions. "What's going on they're probably in bed, sleeping which is what I was just about to do!"

"They aren't!" Robbie shouted "I was talking to Laura on the phone then I got a card under the door and when I came back to the phone she was gone so I rang back and it went straight to voice mail so I went down the hall to her room and the door was locked and she's not answering. I thought maybe she'd gone to see Jean you know what women are like they can spend a whole night taking about the colour of their dress but when I got to the boss's room and knocked no one answered there either but her door was open her costume was hanging on the outside of the wardrobe and there was what looked like night clothes on the bed but no sign of her."

"Have you checked downstairs maybe they went down to the drawing room and are chatting down there by the fire you said it yourself they never seem to run out of tiny details of the most boring stuff to talk about." James reasoned the panic clear in Robbie's eyes starting to become infectious as he tried to think of any possible reason why both women could be missing at the same time. "This place is bloody freezing maybe they went down there to see if the fire was still lit?"

"I've been down there the place is in darkness and there's no one around at all they aren't anywhere that I can find them James and I've looked I've been through every door down there that wasn't locked and there's this." Robbie replied holding out the card he'd got only half an hour earlier and waiting as James read it before handing it back to him.

"Do you care? What's that supposed to mean?" James asked feeling a certain amount of panic attack him too as Robbie shrugged.

"I don't know but I don't have a good feeling about this." He replied "I don't have a good feeling about it at all."


	7. Chapter 7

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter **

**Who done it 7/?**

"Are you sure you looked everywhere? There's got to be some simple explanation they can't both have disappeared into thin air." James said quietly looking at the card Robbie had handed him.

"I've just told you I've been to both their rooms. Laura's door is locked but she's not in there if she was she'd answer and Jean's room is empty." Robbie replied trying to keep the frustration out of his voice. He was sure something wasn't right he could feel it in the pit of his stomach yet James appeared to think it was all some sort of joke. "And I've been downstairs the place is in darkness and I tried every door and they're all locked except for the dinning and drawing rooms and there's no one there."

"Where could they have gone Robbie? We're in the middle of nowhere, this has to be part of the weekend, I mean what other explanation could there be?" James sighed as Robbie watched a flicker of doubt cross the sergeant's eyes and was briefly reminded of Laura's comments about him and Jean and what she'd witnessed earlier in the evening. He couldn't help but wonder if that really had all been an act and if this was too. Did James actually know exactly what was going on and was acting like he didn't or was he just as concerned and doing a better job of hiding it?

"I don't know if I did would I be standing here? We need to find them or find someone who can tell us what the hell is going on." He snapped causing James to doubt that all was how it seemed. They'd all been acting the rest of the evening but somehow it didn't feel like that was what was happening here and the thought was starting to panic him a little. When it came down to it they had put themselves in a situation where they were in a house in the middle of nowhere with a group of people they didn't know. If it was possible that something more sinister was going on it was certainly a situation that leant itself to it.

"Ok look we need to think about this logically." He sighed trying to think like a detective rather than the ridiculous character he'd been playing. "We'll both go back to Jean's room and see if there's any hint at all in there as to where she might be and then we'll find someone who can tell us what's going on. There was at least four people here earlier they can't all have gone for the night someone would have to be on the premises."

"Yeah." Robbie agreed following James out of the room. "They can't all have gone so one of them better know where the girls are because this is starting to seriously worry me."

Looking around the bedroom she'd been lead to at the other side of the house Jean sighed. She'd been told nothing about why she'd been shifted from one side of the house to the other and the young woman who had shown her to the room had flatly refused to explain what was going on. Moving to the window she tried to open the shutters that were blocking her view of the outside and found them locked in place something that only heightened the irritation she was trying hard to quash.

"This is ridiculous." She muttered sitting on the edge of the bed for a second trying to decide if it had been long enough since she'd been left alone to justify leaving the room and demanding an explanation. Glancing at her watch she decided it was, she wasn't spending the rest of the night sitting around waiting for yet another lot of pointless instructions it was the middle of the night and if they were going to have to go through the same rubbish tomorrow as they had tonight she needed a good night's sleep. "Ok Henderson or whoever the hell you are enough is enough you're starting to piss me off now." She sighed getting up and reaching for the door handle and feeling her stomach knot as she turned it and pulled and yet nothing happened.

Pacing back and forward beside the large wooden kitchen table Laura felt the mild irritation she'd been feeling at having been frog marched down stairs and having her phone confiscated like some teenager in school peak and change to all out anger. Apart from the fact it all felt completely irregular she knew that Robbie would be finding her complete disappearance from their conversation confusing at best and that wouldn't help with how she was hoping the weekend would end.

"Excuse me Dr Hobson but I'd like you to follow me to the gate house." Mrs Montgomery said calmly as she entered the kitchen again and stared at Laura in a way that only heightened her anger.

"I'm sure you would but I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on. I wasn't under the impression we were prisoners here nor that you had any right to confiscate my phone like I'm a 12 year old caught using it in class so give it back to me and tell me what you're doing because until then I'm going nowhere" Laura replied wondering if she shouted loud enough would it alert the others that she was in a situation that beginning to make her feel more and more uncomfortable. "Maybe we should get Chief Superintendent Innocent, Chief inspector Lewis and Sergeant Hathaway in on this discussion. I'm not entirely sure this is what any of us signed up for and the legalities of what you're doing are…"

"Doctor we are simply asking you to spend the night in the gate house rather than here in the main how with your colleagues." Mrs Henderson interrupted holding her hand up as Laura attempted to continue reminding her that she was dealing with a group of police officers rather than the general public and they were much less likely to be intimidated. "As for your phone we simply want to remove the temptation for you to keep your friends informed as to what's going on hence spoiling the…"

"I've already said I'm going nowhere right now except upstairs to speak to the others." Laura continued drawing herself up to her full height and trying to exhibit more confidence than she was feeling. "You have clearly overstepped the mark here and the…."

"Doctor if you're not prepared to co-operate voluntarily then I'm sorry but you leave us with no option." Mrs Montgomery sighed as Laura opened her mouth to reply and felt a dull thud at the base of the neck causing her to yelp in pain before the room darkened around her.

"You see now what I mean?" Robbie asked as he and James stood in the middle of Jean's room looking around.

"Yeah ok something's not right." James agreed looking from the dressing table where bottles of moisturiser and other products sat with the lids still off and tissues surrounding them to the night clothes on the bed and the costume hung neatly on the outside of the wardrobe door. The entire atmosphere in the room suggested someone getting ready to turn in for the night and having no intention of leaving the room before morning and the mild concern that had been plaguing him was fast changing to all out panic. Moving to the side of the bed he lifted the nightgown and was immediately attacked by the scent of Jean's perfume from it. "She was ready for bed and changed again."

"What?" Robbie asked turning away from the dressing table where he had been marvelling at the amount of lotions and potions women used to look at his sergeant.

"She had this nightgown on you can smell her perfume on it. If she hasn't been wearing it at some point tonight you wouldn't be able to." James replied setting the satin garment down again and trying to ignore the puzzled look from his senior officer as he glanced at the floor and noticed the corner of a white card sticking out from under the bed.

"I'm not going to get into how you could work that out right now." Robbie replied pushing aside the image of Laura saying I told you so and focusing on what they had to do. "Why would she get ready for bed then change again and…."

"I think this might explain it." James interrupted handing Robbie the card instructing Jean to go to the dining room. "Can you imagine the chief super wandering around the house in her nightgown? If she got this she got dressed before she went."

"Yeah no arguments there but if she got it then where is she? I've been in the dining room it was empty."

"Then where the hell is she?" James asked his fingers still lingering on the fine satin of Jean's nightgown as Robbie shrugged.

Trying the handle again while trying to convince herself that she must be doing something wrong and it she just turned it the right way it would open Jean growled in frustration.

"Calm down." She scolded herself feeling the pockets of her trousers already knowing that her phone was in her handbag upstairs but hoping blindingly that it may have made its own way into her pocket. "Take a deep breath and stop over reacting there'll be a simple explanation for all this you know there will."

Trying the shutters again she glanced into the small en-suite and checked the insides of the closets. The room could almost be considered nice where it not for the fact she was starting to feel increasingly nervous about being trapped in there.

"Chief Superintendent I trust you have everything you need." Henderson said a second later from the door startling her as she tried to work out how he'd unlocked it and stepped inside without alerting her to his presence.

"No I don't." She replied turning on her heels and staring at him. "Setting aside all the other issues I have with this situation right now I'd like an explanation as to why I've been put in here with locked doors and windows. What's going on?"

"Nothing for you to worry about we simply want you to stay here for the night, the locked door and windows is merely a precaution. You'll find everything you need for the night in the room including drinks and snacks in the cabinet in the corner." He continued taking a step back through the door and closing it as she attempted to reach the handle before she heard the lock turn again.

"Let me out of here!" She shouted banging on the heavy wood of the door for a moment before realising it was pointless and leaning back against it trying to get her breathing back under control and work out exactly what was going on.

"Breathe Jean this is all part of the weekend it's team building you didn't believe it was all going to be pretty dresses and play acting did you?" She muttered trying to convince herself that there was some truth in her words as her chest tightened and her stomach knotted painfully. None of this felt right anymore, something was going on that she was not going to be able to talk herself out of or brush off as all part of the act. Try as she might all she could focus on was the fact she was locked in a room in a house in the middle of nowhere without so much as a phone to help. She had no idea where her friends were or even if they had any idea she wasn't where she should be and suddenly she felt extremely vulnerable and like she was right in the middle of something she had absolutely no control over and was feeling more and more dangerous by the second.


	8. Chapter 8

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter **

*****Additional author's note :- While I try to update all on going things and post a couple of new things every Monday sometimes time runs out and real life takes over. However for those of you concerned that I might have given up on this because of the late update this week I can assure you I don't give up on stories until they are finished so even if it's a little longer between updates there will always be another until it has a complete tag beside it on the site! J xx**

**Who done it 8/?**

Pulling open the drawers around the room Jean searched for something, anything, that might give her a clue as to whether this was a twist in the weekend's schedule that was exclusive to their group or whether the divide and conquer approach was a regular occurrence. She'd spent what felt like forever sitting on the edge of the bed trying to work out what to do, and she'd realised since there did appear to be no way out of the room she had two options. She could sit there and wait for be "rescued" by the others or released by whomever the hell the event's organisers turned out to be or she could be proactive and try to work out what was going on. It took all of three seconds for her to decide that the second option was definitely the way to go.

"Think Jean for Christ sakes you haven't been stuck behind a desk for so long that you've completely forgotten what it was like to look for clues or conduct some sort of an investigation." She muttered standing in the middle of the room and looking around again. So far the drawers in the room were empty and other than the small bottles and snack foods in the cabinet in the corner she was getting nowhere.

Leaning down she tried to see through the small keyhole in the door in an attempt to work out where in the house she was. She knew the walk to the room had taken her well away from the areas they had been in earlier in the evening and the small flight of stairs had suggested that she was somewhere at the top of the rambling building. Looking through the keyhole now she the hallway beyond was in darkness giving her no clue if the others would even know the room existed let alone that she was in it. As she turned to get up again her attention was caught by a flash of something glittering under the bed and pulling the comforter aside and running her hands along the edge from one of the wooden bed legs to the other finally finding the source of the flash of light and pulled it out.

"Shit!" She muttered immediately dropping it on the carpet beside her again and jumping up rushing to the bathroom and returning with a dry flannel lifting the item again with it and laying it on the dressing table before sinking into the chair in front of it. Using the flannel to move the piece of jewellery around, turning it over without touching it again she confirmed what she already knew as she saw again the small flecks of blood covering the green stones and silver framework of the vintage choker. Someone wearing that piece of jewellery had clearly been injured in that room and whoever had hurt them had done a very good job of leaving no trace of the incident but they'd missed the choker, she'd have missed had she not been on her hands and knees already. Getting up again and returning a moment later with a small food bag that had been covering the packets of biscuits in the cabinet and lifted the choker with the flannel dropping it inside and then into the pocket of her trousers.

"Well I'm sure as hell not hanging around here waiting to be "recued" now." She muttered running her hand over the back of her neck trying to calm the panic that was threatening to prevent her from thinking clearly at all. There had to be a way out of that room, she knew there did now all she had to do was work out what it was.

"Isn't there a proper light in the damn place." James said crossly as he and Robbie attempted to look around the dining room using the limited amount of light shed by the lamps they had switched on around the table. Since leaving Jean's room he'd been trying to keep a lid on the feeling that something was seriously wrong. He'd been trying to keep the same "there's a simple explanation" line going with Robbie but he wasn't sure he believed it himself anymore. They'd been round every door in the hallway and it had simply confirmed what he'd already been told, other than the two rooms they'd been in that evening all the doors were locked and when they'd tried the large front door they'd walked through only a few hours before it was deadlocked and there was no sign of a key to open it.

"I tried the light switch earlier there's no bulbs in that chandelier thing it's the same out in the hall and in the drawing room too. Someone is either really terrible at replacing bulbs or they want the place to be as gloomy as possible." Robbie sighed moving the chairs out around the table and scanning the floor underneath. They'd been over the room once already and he knew now they were both just trying to buy enough time to work out what they thought was going on and what their next move should be.

"I want to go back into the hall come on we're getting nowhere here, there has to be a way to get into the other rooms in the house and there has to be someone else still here. Even if there is something sinister going on someone has to be here to do it right?" James continued leaving the room again and standing in the middle of the hallway looking around. "Do you remember anything about these doors through the course of the evening? I think that one in the corner must have led to the kitchen because I'm sure I saw that "Henderson" bloke coming in and out of there with food and drinks, if we could get in there then there may be a back door we could get through and see if we can find anyone in the grounds or if the girls have been removed completely from the house."

"Yeah when we arrived they all seemed to come from there do you think you could break it down?"

"Have you seen the size of the doors in this place, I doubt I'd be able to get through it.I doubt we both would even if we tried but the locks are old surely they shouldn't be too hard to pick don't you think?"

"I suppose not." Robbie shrugged as they moved across the hall and he found himself wondering exactly how two coppers who were more likely to be calling back up at this stage or a lock smith in a normal situation were going to be able to turn their hand to lock picking no matter how important it was that they got through that door. "Do you know how to pick a lock James? In case you haven't noticed we're not exactly equipped for house breaking. I don't think…"

"What?" James asked as Robbie stopped mid-sentence staring at the floor for a second pointing at the small black slipper that he'd almost stood on.

"I think that's Laura's." He said quietly bending down to pick it up and feeling his hand brush against something wet and sticky on the floor beside it.

"Robbie wait don't touch it!" James said quietly gripping his friend's arm and pulling it away as he reached into his pocket pulling out a tissue and lifting the slipper with it. "Are you sure this is Laura's I mean it's a slipper it could be anyone's it's not exactly distinctive."

"It's hers." Robbie replied holding up his hand so James could see the tacky red stain he had picked up from the floor. "And what if this is hers too?"

"Jesus Robbie what the hell is going on here?" James snapped wrapping the slipper in the tissue in his hand and feeling his heart race.

"I've no idea but whatever it is we're going to find out and we're going to find them both before anything else happens. Get the door open James I don't care how we do it just get it open."

Groaning softly Laura tried to open her eyes the searing pain in her neck meaning it took only seconds for the events of the evening so far came flooding back as she reached for the back of her head wincing as she felt the sticky patch of blood at the base of her skull. There was a small lamp in the corner of what looked a dated living room and on the coffee table was laid a tray with tea and coffee, bottled water and a selection of snacks. Finally lifting her head and reaching for the card propped up against the bottles of water and felt her anger peak again as she read it.

_Dr Hobson_

_We apologise again for the unconventional methods we were forced to employ to get you here but unfortunately you gave us no option. You'll find everything you need for the next twenty four hours here in the gatehouse we trust that you will make yourself comfortable and someone will be along to let you out in due course. _

"Unconventional methods? More like bloody assault and unlawful imprisonment." Laura snapped getting up and moving through the small gate house trying to find an open window or door before returning to the sofa and letting out a frustrated scream as she sank on to it. "Calm down Laura, Robbie won't have just accepted that you hung up on him, he'll have gone looking for you when you didn't answer if he rang back and he'll find out what's going on." She sighed saying a silent prayer she was right but still plagued by doubts about how long it might take for any of the others to notice she was gone. What if Robbie assumed she'd just gone to bed? What if he called at her room and she didn't answer he assumed that confirmed it and went to bed himself?

Taking in more of the details of her surroundings she realised that the small house was clearly rarely, if ever, used. While the furniture was similar in style to that in the main house there was a layer of dust covering everything and when she reached for the light switch on the wall and flicked it the bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling failed to come on. The chill in the air seemed to be seeping through the fabric of the t-shirt and pyjama bottoms she'd been wearing when Mrs Montgomery had come to her bedroom door and the icy cold on the soles of her feet proved that somewhere in getting between the house and here she'd lost her slippers. Taking a deep breath she tried to shut out the fact that the chill to her skin felt very similar to the chill that was gripping her chest. The evening had seemed fun, she'd really enjoyed the role play and was sure the others had too, she'd gone to bed sure that the weekend could end up with more than a team being built but maybe a relationship or two as well. Now she was alone in a building god knows how far from the others with no idea what was happening or even if they were ok and she didn't like the feeling that was slowly smothering her convincing her that there was something really bad going on and none of them really knew what they had got themselves into.


	9. Chapter 9

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**** Please note the rating change on this chapter and for further chapters from T to M it's getting a little more explicit than I was expecting so rating changed to accommodate that.**

**Who done it 9/?**

"Robbie calm down we don't know that it's hers the slipper nor the blood I mean it's a pretty generic looking slipper how do you know it's hers?" James asked still holding the piece of footwear in his hand as he watched Robbie try to force the door they had been considering breaking through.

"Look did I question how you knew that the chief super has been wearing her nightgown before she left the room? Sometimes you just know and I know it's Laura's just like you knew what you did about Jean we've got to get through this door James or at least through one of the fucking doors if they've hurt Laura what's to say they haven't done something to both of them and we're standing around debating our next move!" Robbie snapped thumping the door in frustration as it still refused to budge. He could feel that something was seriously wrong, that they'd got themselves into a situation that was out of control and they needed to find the girls because his gut was telling him that they had to get away from there before something terrible happened if it hadn't already.

"We need something to pick the lock with we're never going to be able to break through that door Robbie we've established that already. We need something sharp and…..Jean's room she must have something she's always putting her hair up and down she won't have come away without clip things and combs and crap like that come on."

"You go there I'm going to get my phone the reception was shit earlier but if we move around like I did talking to Laura we might just get a good enough signal to ring out and get some help."

"Good idea get mine from my room too even if it takes a while for someone to get here at least we'll know they're on their way." James agreed as they took the stairs two at a time and split up Robbie heading down the corridor in the direction of their rooms while he went the other way to Jean's.

Stepping inside he looked around making a beeline for the dressing table and sitting on the chair looking around at the things in front of him trying to work out where she would keep the sorts of things they needed. Running his fingers over the bottles and jars in front of him he lifted the small bottle of perfume his fingers had stopped on bringing it to his nose and inhaling the familiar scent.

"Where are you? You better be ok I swear wherever you are you better be safe because I'm not losing you before I've even had a chance to tell you how I feel." He whispered finally spotting a cloth bag in the corner of the dressing table with a metal handled tail comb sticking out of it. Pulling it toward him he rooted through it taking out the comb and a handful of hair grips as Robbie rushed back into the room.

"They're gone." He gasped trying to get his breath back as James stared at him not understanding what he was referring to, they knew they were gone wasn't that what they were doing? Trying to find them? "The phones James! Yours and mine they're gone, mine was on the bedside table and it's gone and I've searched your room and yours isn't there either."

"It must be it was on the bed I was checking emails on it two minutes before you knocked my door earlier, you must have missed it and did you check yours hasn't fallen down the side of the bed or something?"

"For fuck sake James of course I checked I pulled both my bed and yours apart and they are gone! How the hell are they doing this? How are they getting in and out without us ever seeing them, tell me I'm not the only one who is off the scale worried about Jean and Laura right now, you can't seriously still be thinking there's going to be some logical explanation for all this."

"No I don't I agree with you let's get down stairs and see if we can get through that door." James said quietly making a silent vow that if they did find any of the people who had been working on their so called murder mystery weekend earlier he would do whatever it took to make them tell him where Jean was and if they had hurt her he'd personally make it his mission to make sure they regretted it.

"Damn!" Jean snapped throwing the tea spoon in her hand onto the carpet and reaching for another running it down the gap between the shutters hitting the same spot that had bent the other handle and trying to force it through. She's managed to loosen the paintwork that seemed to be holding the shutters in place and finally felt like she was getting somewhere when she hit the latch and the handle of the first spoon bent completely making it useless. Now she knew that she had one more chance to try to make some progress because the two spoons were the only things she'd been able to find in the room that were of any help at all.

"I've told you already there's no point in trying to open the shutters or the door we know what we're doing do you really think we'd be stupid enough to leave a way for you to get out before we want you to?" Henderson said suddenly from the door as she jumped dropping the spoon and cursed the fact she'd been so wrapped up in what she was doing that she'd not heard him open the door.

Tossing the spoon on the bed she stormed toward him the anger and terror that was building in her at alarming speed outweighing her common sense as she reached to slap him and he gripped her wrist before her palm made contact.

"Let go of me." She shouted as he spun her against the wall beside the door pinning her against it holding both her hands above her head with one of his as he brought his face level with hers.

"I'll let go of you when I'm ready to, I tried being nice now maybe it's time to let you in on a few home truths. Right now you have absolutely no control over what's happening here, you can try to get out of this room, you can fight me all you want but what happens to you from now on is entirely in my control." He spat his free hand running down the her side as he briefly glanced the length of her body before meeting her eyes again and she felt bile rise in her throat as the terror she was already feeling peaked. "I suggest you find a way to do what I tell you when I tell you or you'll find I can get very, very nasty and you don't want that because by the time I'm finished with you you'll…."

"Henderson, not now we have bigger problems you can deal with her later we've lost two." Mrs Montgomery interrupted standing at the door with her hands on her hips ignoring the frightened glance from Jean as he released her hands and kept her pinned to the wall with the weight of his body.

"This isn't over I'll continue this discussion when I've dealt with your friends." He said with quiet menace as he left the room again and she heard the key turn in the lock before rushing to the bathroom gasping for breath as she leant over the sink trying not to vomit at her skin still felt like it was crawling just from having him so close.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god." She muttered her hands trembling as she splashed cold water on her face and tried not to let the implications of his words sink in too deeply. Setting aside the overt threats he'd made to her she now knew that she wasn't the only one in danger, that something was going on outside that room with the others and he was right she had no control over it and no way to help them as she finally lost the battle with the queasiness still overtaking her and gripped the sides of the sink praying that the others were coping better and having more luck staying safe than she was.

Gulping from the bottle of water she'd opened Laura move around the small gate house in an effort to see if there was any way to get out or any means with which to contact the others. So far she'd found two phone jacks in the wall but no sign of a phone to plug into them and all the doors and windows she'd discovered were firmly locked.

"Relax Laura you're over reacting, it's all part of the game, in the morning they'll come let you out then you can have Robbie arrest them for assault and you can all go home." She muttered trying to convince herself that it was all ok, that things had maybe gotten a little out of hand and someone in an effort to keep the weekend authentic had overstepped the mark but that was all it was, nothing really sinister and in the morning it would all be ok. Robbie would make sure it was and if he knew she was missing it may not even take till morning because he would demand that they bring her back to the main house right away.

"When we realised it was a group of cops we should have cancelled, it's too dangerous this was supposed to be one last go here and then move on if they get off the grounds and get help we're screwed. We'll be lifted from here they'll find the others and then it won't take them long to link it to Kent and Dorset never mind Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Cardiff and even Cork and Dublin you know what police computers are like now a couple of red flag similarities and everything we've worked so hard to keep buried is being used to hang us." The familiar voice outside the window was quiet but still loud enough for her to make out that it was the butler from earlier in the evening, that he was talking about them, and that he clearly wasn't happy.

"You were the one who took an instant shine to the fucking Innocent woman we all told you that it was a bad idea and we should ditch them and wait for the next group that booked but no you were thinking with your dick not your head and now we're stuck with them." The angry tone of the woman's voice she could hear made it almost unrecognisable but the small tug of familiarity told her it was the housekeeper and once that connection had been made the impact of what she was actually hearing started to sink in and she felt her stomach knot. "We have to follow through now and remember we had two barristers in the second group in Dublin and we panicked but by the end they were just as easy to play as all the others this time will be no different."

"It's already different you idiotic bitch, we've lost the two men, I think he's put the fear of god into the chief superintendent but I don't think it'll last she's a stubborn one I think it'll take actions rather than words to break her and that fucking doctor is locked in the gatehouse with what's in the basement in there we're going to have to deal with her sooner rather than later. We're losing control of this group and we can't afford to do that." Another male voice, younger this time and it was getting harder to hear as she was sure they were moving away and tried to move along the windows on the side of the building in an effort to keep hearing what was being said but failing as silence overtook the room again.

Pacing back and forward she tried to process what she'd heard, clearly Robbie and James had got away from them and they knew that she and Jean were missing so that had to be a good thing she told herself in an effort to calm the panic swelling in her chest. If they had broken away from what she now accepted where their captors then they would be trying to find her and Jean and that was definitely in their favour but the implication in the comments she'd heard about their fate made her pulse race as she quietly willed them to hurry up, to find them before it was too late and to not get caught themselves in the process.


	10. Chapter 10

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it 10/?**

Standing listening to them walk away Laura felt like her legs had been turned to lead and her mind was close to exploding with the implications of what they'd said. She'd almost managed to convince herself that there was a logical if over the top explanation for everything that was going on now she knew there wasn't that they had gotten themselves into something really dangerous and she had no idea if the others were still ok.

From what she'd heard she knew that they were concerned about Robbie and James's whereabouts so at the very least they were still able to move and make an attempt to look for her and Jean but she really didn't like what she was hearing about what they planned to do with them all and Jean in particular. It was clear that they didn't intend the four of them to leave the grounds alive but the implications made by how Henderson and Mrs Montgomery had referred to her friend it was clear that ending her life was only part of what the "butler" had planned.

Finally feeling the power return to her legs she paced back and forward trying to run over what she had heard and block out her concern for her friends so that she might be able to find a way out and then she could help them. They clearly weren't happy about the fact they'd had to leave her in the gatehouse and were worried about what she might discover before they had a chance to get rid of her and suddenly a single line stood out like a beacon amongst everything else she's heard.

The basement. Something was in the basement that they were worried about her finding and she knew she needed to get down there and find out what it was before they came back. Rushing to the small kitchen at the other side of the house she rooted around in the drawers slamming each one in frustration as she realised she was finding nothing that might help her break even the rickety looking lock on the basement door.

"Yes!" She whispered triumphantly as right at the back of the cupboard under the sink she found an old hammer that looked like it hadn't seen use in years but which she still thought with the help of the large metal spoon she'd also found might just be enough to knock the lock off. Grabbing the spoon she looked at both feeling her heart sink a little at the rust about the bowl of the spoon and the fact that the head on the hammer wobbled precariously on the handle. "You are going to be a lot of fucking help but you're all I've got so don't let me down!"

Making her way back through the house she tried again to blot out the images flooding her brain about what may be happening or already have happened to her friends as she reached the basement door again and looked at the ancient lock. It looked like one good pull and it should have fallen off on it's own but she knew that wasn't the case she'd tried it earlier and couldn't get it to budge now she had to hope that if she wedged the handle of the spoon between the wood and the rusty lock and hit it hard enough with the hammer it might come away.

"Right Laura you're not going to get too many chances at this so think about it before you do it people's lives might depend on it." She said quietly trying to calm the trembling in her hands as she carefully wedged the bowl of the spoon between the wood and the lock raising the hammer and hitting it as hard as she could on the top. Taking a deep breath as the spoon shot out the other end and the lock loosened but didn't yet come away from the wall she picked it up praying the metal would hold for another attempt as she pushed it through and repeated the process.

"Shit!" She yelled as the rusty lock finally sprang away from the wall slicing into her fingers as it went. "Great if they don't get me blood poisoning will."

Crossing the hall to the bathroom she ran the cut under the tap before wrapping it in tissue and returning to the now unlocked door. Turning the handle she held her breath as she pushed the door open the loud creaking noise it made as she did making her jump as she felt along the wall for a light switch finding it and cursing softly as the light came on at the bottom of the stairs that was too dull to give her any idea where the stairs started or how safe they might be.

"Come on Laura you can do this think of the others." She muttered quietly feeling around the grainy floor with her bare foot until she found the top of the first step, taking a final deep breath and starting down the staircase. Her breathing sounded loud in her ears as she tried to listen for noises upstairs too the possibility that their captors may return at any moment still clawing at the back of her mind as she inhaled deeply the faint smell coming from the bottom of the stairs almost stopping her in her tracks. In her career she'd dealt with death on a daily basis she'd visited crime scenes with bodies the smell of which hung around in your nose for days afterward and the ones that had that faint, barely cold smell that she could sense now where the ones that made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck most. Pausing on the wooden stair case as the limited light from the room below started to cast a shadow she tried to compose herself, to tell herself to think of it like any other potential crime scene she'd ever walked into, to block out the fact that she and her closest friend might…no make that were in danger and take the next step. The sound of the steps beneath her feet seemed to get louder the further down she went until finally the light cast onto the last few and she could see her own bare toes stark against the hard wood. She saw the rough edge of the soiled sheet before she could see the shape of what was beneath but the shape was irrelevant she already knew what was waiting for her in the cold barely lit basement.

"Oh my god, this isn't happening just close your eyes and count to ten and you're going to wake up in that uncomfortable bed in the main house and this will all have been some stupid nightmare." She gasped leaning against the cold stone wall when she reached the bottom of the stairs and took in the sight in front of her. Following her own instructions she closed her eyes willing the scene to disappear, the bile to retreat back down her throat and the images of what she was about to find under the sheet to leave her mind. By seven she knew it wasn't going to happen and bracing herself against the wall she opened them again taking the few steps to the mound in the middle of the room she grasped the sheet pulling it away.

In an instant her mind was flooded with images of tangled bodies, blood strewn clothes ranging from the same outdated period costume they'd been wearing throughout the night to one white cotton night dress she could barely recognise it was so soaked in blood. Forcing her mind into action she tried to work out how many bodies where actually there, counting limbs, torsos and finally heads until she established that there were four. Four just like there were four of them. Four people who had clearly walked into the stately home she'd been so forcibly removed from believing they were attending a murder mystery weekend only to discover the murders in question where their own. Scrambling toward the stairs she part ran part crawled to the top of them sinking against the wall in the small hallway gasping for breath.

"No, no this can't be happening, it can't be this isn't real it can't be real I…." she muttered before hearing once again the sound of footsteps outside the back door of the gatehouse and holding her breath as she heard mumbled voices. For a second she thought of all the things she would have done, should have done if life hadn't decided to have its final grand joke by bringing her to this point. She thought of Robbie and all the things she wished she'd said to him, all the things she wished they'd done, she thought of James and Jean and if there was any chance the others might make it out alive and how she hoped they wouldn't make the same mistake she had. Finally she stood up and walked toward the sound of the voices ready to accept what was about to happen but determined if she was going to breathe her last in this cold soulless building she'd go down fighting. Stepping close to the door she heard a single sentence that made her head spin with the significance it held.

"I didn't even notice this place when we drove in. Do you think they might be in there?" Instantly recognising Robbie's voice she battered on the door all the tension and terror she'd been holding since the moment she'd first opened her eyes in that house coming out in a strangled scream she prayed he could hear and would recognise as hers.


	11. Chapter 11

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it 11/?**

"We could have done with a torch or something good this place is vast did you notice how much grounds there was when we drove in earlier?" Robbie asked as he and James made it out of the back door of the main house both pausing to get their bearings. With the help of Jean's hair pins they had managed to get through the lock on the kitchen door and after establishing there was no one and nothing of any help in the room they had decided they needed to establish if there was anywhere outside of the house that the girls could be. Now though he was starting to wonder if it had been such a good idea. The grounds were pitch dark and they had been so focused on getting outside that neither of them had thought to bring something that might help them see in their efforts to find Jean and Laura.

"Yeah well we haven't got one come on our eyes will adapt quickly enough we need to get to the front of the house and check that the car's still there so when we do find the girls we have a way out of this hell hole." James replied trying to hide the irritation in his voice but failing. It had now been over two hours since Robbie had last spoken to Laura and no one had seen Jean since they left the drawing room another hour before that and he was starting to fear the worst.

"The keys should be up in my jacket pocket I mean I know they managed to grab our phones but they'd have had to root around to find the keys and it didn't look like they had." Robbie sighed following James as she moved round the side of the house trying to be as quiet as possible and sticking close to the wall. "See it's still there I think we need to go down the drive, see if the gates are locked and if they are work out how we can get them open too when we need to and while we're going there we can look around and see if there's any sign of them."

"We're putting ourselves out in the open heading that way but we're getting nothing this end so let's give it a go."

"Just stay as much in the shadows as possible." Robbie continued as they started down the gravel driveway. He had never felt so aware of every slight movement or rustle in his life, even the wind through the trees on either side of them was making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge. He's been so sure that if they could just find a way into that kitchen there would be something that would tell them where Jean and Laura were and the fact that they had nothing more to go on than before they got in was making it harder than ever not to lose the rag with the whole situation.

"What's that?" James asked pointing toward a small building almost obscured by the trees surrounding it. "It's a house, at least it looks like a house."

"I don't remember seeing this when we came in."

"No nor do I but….." James began as they approached the building circling it his words stopping in his throat as they heard a family voice shouting from the door beside then and the banging coming from it suggested they couldn't get out.

"Laura? Laura is that you?" Robbie shouted rattling the door handle as she shouted back then staring at James for a second.

"We need to get in." James replied reading his friend's mind as they both stood back from the door a little. "Laura stand away from the door we're going to try to break it down."

"Be careful." Laura shouted back as they both looked at the door and knew they were thinking the same thing. It looked rickety the wood clearly rotten and the lock looked like it hadn't seen a key in years but that didn't mean when they tried to break through it would be easy.

"I'll try on my own first if that doesn't shift it we'll both try." Robbie said quietly taking a deep breath and a run up to the door the impact reverberating through his shoulder as the door yielded slightly but the lock held fast.

"Right, together this time." James said as they glanced at each other and he said a silent prayer it worked this time. "One, two, three….go."

The few minutes seemed to go in slow motion as they both ran at the door, two shoulders crashed into the middle of it, the wood splintered, the lock sprang away and they tumbled through falling at Laura's feet.

"Are you ok? Did they hurt you? Talk to me Laura you look like you've seen a ghost what's happened?" Robbie asked as they got to their feet and pulled her into his arms.

"Laura is Jean here too? Have you seen her? Do you know what's going on?" James added looking around the small house they were all now standing in desperate for her to tell him that Jean was there too that they finally were all back together and could get out of there.

"She's not here I don't know where she is but wherever it is she's in real danger we all are you've got to see this." Laura replied pulling out of Robbie's arms and guiding them back to the open door of the basement. "They knocked me out and this was where I woke up…"

"Jesus Laura are you ok?" James interrupted the first mention of actual violence making his stomach knot again as they started down the basement steps and froze as they reached the bottom and he and Robbie took in the sight in front of them. "What the hell?"

"Shit this is bad, what are there three, four bodies there?" Robbie added walking around the heap of tangled corpses.

"Four, two women two men just like us. I heard them talking outside this isn't the first time they've done this and they know you two are out of the house the woman Mrs whatever she called herself was really pissed off at Henderson apparently the rest of them wanted to ditch us when we first got here but he….." Laura began pausing for a second and glancing at James before she continued. She knew they were all scared right now but at least they had found her what she was about to say could only add to James's anguish.

"He what Laura, let's take this upstairs and work out where they might have Jean." Robbie interrupted following them as they all mounted the stairs again and stood in the small living room of the house waiting for Laura to finish.

"He took a shine to Jean apparently I got the impression that wherever she is he has planned for her it's not as simple as…..well what they have planned for us." Laura continued watching as James's jaw flexed with determination and she saw his hands form angry fists at his side.

"So you think they killed the people in the basement?" Robbie asked "I mean those bodies are fresh or at least haven't been there long Laura come on think like a pathologist for a second and….."

"Don't you think that's exactly what I have been doing?" Laura snapped back, "Yes they killed them I don't think they did I know they did you didn't hear them Robbie not only did they kill them but they rhymed off a list of other places they'd been so I'm guessing it wasn't their first set of murders and before you ask yes I think they have every intention of making sure we never leave here alive either so unless you're going to contribute something more constructive can you just…."

"I'm trying to be bloody constructive what do you think we've been doing for the last two hours we've been trying to find you, trying to work out what the hell is going on and…"

"Can you two give it a fucking rest!" James shouted stopping the argument that was about to get to fever pitch mid flow. "Will you listen to yourselves? We're standing here in a situation that we have no control over with a group of psychos determined to kill us at the very least and you two are arguing about who is or isn't contributing to getting us out of it. Have you forgotten that we're still one down? Jean is somewhere on this property and she's alone and completely at their mercy so do you think you could both grown the hell up and finish this argument when we've found her and got us all out of here?"

"Sorry." Laura replied gently rubbing the back of her neck where the throbbing pain still left from where she'd been hit was starting to get unbearable.

"Yeah I'm sorry too Laura are you ok you said they hit you and what happened to your hand?" Robbie asked trying to focus again as James left them and started rooting around in the cupboards and drawers in the house looking for anything that might help them when they were out in the open again.

"They called me down to the kitchen, took my phone and told me they were bringing me here when I said they weren't one of them hit me and knocked me out." Laura explained as he stepped towards her pulling her into his arms again and gently kissing the top of her head. "My hand was all me I had to break through the basement lock it sprang off the door and sliced through my finger. Robbie how the hell have we managed to end up in this situation and where's Jean? James is right she's out there alone somewhere and if you two didn't see any sign of her in the house and she's not here where the hell is she? You don't think they've already…"

"No, no I don't I refuse to think about that possibility and you put it out of your head too we need to focus on finding her now worrying about what might have already happened. You were right about her and James he's in a bad way if we don't find her soon I don't think he's going to cope so we need to focus on that." Robbie replied as James came back into the room empty handed his frustration clear.

"There is nothing in this bloody place that will be of any use to us if we meet them when we leave here but we've got to go, now." He said angrily pacing back and forward the clenching and unclenching of his fists telling them that he was getting closer to breaking point with every passing second. "When we go out that door we stick together, the last thing we need is to lose each other again, we stick together no matter what and when we find Jean we get the hell out of here I don't care if we have to run to the nearest town or house or whatever once we're all together again we get away we are not ending up like…..we're just not….."

"James it's ok we'll find her." Laura said quietly moving from Robbie's side and gripping James's arms stopping his pacing and forcing him to look at her. "Calm down, if we go out of here wound up and on edge we'll never get anywhere, we're all scared and we're all frightened for Jean but we will find her and when we do she's going to be fine ok?"

"She's right James we need to try to stay calm and think one step ahead of them. We can do this it's what we do every day isn't it?" Robbie added a new determination over taking him. Right now he knew that James was in turmoil and it was going to make it hard for him to focus, Laura was injured and that meant he had to take charge and get them out of there. "They picked the wrong group of people to mess with this time and we are smarter than them, and stronger than them and we will get out of this, all four of us I promise."


	12. Chapter 12

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it 12/?**

"Let's go." James said quietly heading for the back door of the cottage before Robbie grabbed his arm pulling him back again.

"Wait, we have no idea where we're going or what we're doing yet it won't help if we just tumble out into the night with no plan for how we might find her or where she might be. I know you're scared for her we all are but we need to decide what to do before we leave here because once we're out in the open again we'll need to make as little noise as possible."

"He's right James." Laura agreed trying to calm the pounding in her own chest at the thought of being out of the confines of the small cottage. It may have it's own set of dangers but it felt safer than being out in the grounds surrounded by nothing but darkness and possible discovery. "Did you see any other outbuildings or anywhere in the grounds where they could be holding her?"

"No we didn't even know this place was here it was pure chance that we found it and you." Robbie replied leaning back against the kitchen counter trying to think of some way to work out there their missing friend was. "She has to be somewhere in the house. I mean we only saw a small part of it. From the outside when we drove up it looked huge there are sections we won't have even been near which would be perfect for them to hide her if they had her high enough up or far enough away from where are rooms are we wouldn't even hear her if she called out."

"Well I think we have to assume that she's not just sitting around waiting to be rescued she'll fight them every step of the way and won't be doing it quietly so you must be right or we'd have heard something." James agreed looking from Laura to Robbie as they exchanged a worried glance. "What? What are you thinking?"

"Well we know she'd fight back and probably make a right racket doing it." Robbie said quietly glancing at Laura hoping she would finish the point he knew they'd both been thinking.

"If she can James that's what we're thinking, we don't know what situation she's in, if she's able to call out or if she's even conscious that's why we need to know what we're doing before we leave here." She added glancing at her feet hating the fact that they were having to even consider options like that.

"So we go back to the main house, stay in the shadows like we did coming down here and when we get there we try to work out how to get to the other side of the building, the opposite side to where our rooms where. I didn't see any stairs cases or corridors that looked like they lead to that side of the house but the place is like a rabbit warren and there are doors everywhere." Robbie continued trying to deflect from the fresh anger and panic he could see crossing James's eyes.

"Yeah ok let's just get out of here ok the more time we spend standing around here talking about looking for her the longer we're leaving her at their mercy, his mercy in particular." James sighed as they all looked at each other a final time and headed for the door.

"Laura stay between me and James and stay in the shadows we don't know where any of them are right now and if we come up against them or they creep up on us I don't want you in their direct line of attack understood?" Robbie whispered as they made it out into the cold night air and paused a second allowing their eyes to adjust before continuing along the wall of the cottage glancing round the corner before moving quickly across the driveway to the limited cover of the trees on the other side.

"Ok. How did you two get out and is it likely to still be accessible for us to get in?" Laura whispered as Robbie gripped her hand and James explained about the back door and how they had managed to get into the kitchen with the help of Jean's hair pins.

"We'll head for the door again and hope they haven't realised that's how we got out or if they have they'll assume that we wouldn't go back." James continued as they continued moving across the ground back toward the main house and hopefully their missing friend.

Sitting on the end of the bed in the dimly lit room Jean tried again to think of something, anything, that might help to either get her out of the room or alert the others to where she was. She'd not been able to get her last encounter with Henderson out of her mind and couldn't decide if she was more worried about the overt threats he'd made toward her or the fact that James and Robbie appeared to have gotten away and their captors were determined to find them.

They'd left again so quickly that no one had remembered that when they arrived she was using the handle of the final tea spoon and now it was lying on the floor by the window challenging her to try again. Glancing back at the door she strained her ears trying to establish that they were really gone and not about to surprise her again by opening the door before sliding off the bed again and grabbing it.

"You can do this Jean come on you almost had it last time." She whispered working the handle down the small gap between the shutters again trying to pry them apart as her mind refused to stop wandering to what was happening with the other.

If Robbie and James were missing then that at the very least meant they were still ok, they were able to move and make an attempt to get away and possibly get help but there had been no mention of Laura when Mrs Montgomery had interrupted Henderson's intimidation of her. Since she'd calmed her own fears the fear for Laura had been the one most consuming her and which was again rearing it's head as she worked on the shutters. It was clear Henderson would have no qualms about hurting her and if that was the case then he would clearly be as careless in his handling of Laura. Try as she might she couldn't get the image out of her head that something may be happening or may already have happened to her friend and the fact that Laura wouldn't have been there at all had she not convinced her to come was making the situation worse.

"Yes!" She muttered triumphantly as the wooden latch that hand been holding the shutter closed finally splintered under the pressure she was applying to it she eased it open growling slightly in frustration as she realised she was faced with a sealed window pane without any sign of a latch or way to open it. Looking out around the grounds though she realised that she was looking at a section that was nowhere near where they had come in and even straining her eyes she couldn't see the driveway nor the gravelled area where they had parked the car.

"Ok so you're at the back of the house that's not a problem if they come looking for you they're not going to look only where you've already been they're detectives Jean have a little faith in them." She scolded herself as her heart sank slightly. Staring out the window she was about to move, close the shutter and try to work out her next move when she was sure she saw something move in the darkness of the trees just about visible through the darkness. Staring again and the same space she saw it again, a figure definitely, maybe two then finally for a brief second in the light of the moon she saw them, three people doing their best not to be noticed but she could see them as clearly as if they were lit up in neon.

It was definitely them, Robbie in front, Laura in the middle and James behind making their way slowly toward the back of the house. They were all ok, none of them looked injured or in need of help to get wherever they were planning to go and they were coming back into what was clearly a dangerous situation in search of her. She couldn't ever remember having felt so relieved to see anyone in her life as she did at that moment and reaching for the glass she banged it loudly saying a silent prayer they could hear her even though it was clear she was several stories up and the glass was thick and absorbing some of the impact without making any sound. She saw them pause and was about to bang again when she felt a hand grab her wrist spinning her away from the window as the shutter slammed shut beside her and she was again face to face with Henderson sneering angrily into her face.

"God you're a pain in the ass, what are you hoping to achieve? You're friends aren't coming to save you, this isn't going to have a happy ending why can't you just do what you're fucking told." He spat as through the fog of terror again clouding her mind she realised he hadn't seen what she had, he didn't know she'd seen them and hopefully they'd seen her and whatever happened next she knew she could take a tiny crumb of comfort from that.

"What have you done with the others? What the hell do you want or hope to achieve by keeping us here?" She asked trying to sound more confident than she was feeling and also distract him from going back near the window for long enough to let the others get out of sight.

"You don't need to worry about your friends, my friends are taking care of them, as for what I want from you well we'll get to that right now before we do you need to know that none of you are leaving this place, we know what we're doing, we've split up and disposed of stronger groups than yours and the more you co-operate the less horrific it's going to be all round." He continued the low menace in his tone sending a shiver down her spine. "No one is coming to interrupt this time, they're all busy dealing with your friends, it's just you and me I've been looking forward to this."


	13. Chapter 13

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it 13/?**

"You both saw that too didn't you?" Robbie whispered as they all stopped and stared at the window, now in darkness again, where he was sure he saw Jean only moments before.

"Yes it was definitely her but I'm pretty sure that was that bastard Henderson I saw closing the shutter again, do you think he realised she'd seen us or that we know where she is?" James replied feeling his stomach knot with fear not for them but for Jean. He'd been getting by up to that point by convincing himself that it would be fine that they would get to her before Henderson had a chance to make it back there, and that when they did they'd get her out and to safety with them before he had a chance to harm her. Now having seen clearly that wasn't going to necessarily be the case he was finding it very hard not to run straight for the back door and back into the house to get to her however many other doors he had to get through in the process.

"If he realised we'd know about it I don't think he was focusing on what was outside the window." Laura replied making to carry on moving toward the house before James gripped her wrist pulling her back again.

"Wait we need to work out where we are in relation to the parts of the house we know. If we go rushing in there without thinking then we're at no more of an advantage than we would have been had we not seen her. It's such a rabbit warren in there that as soon as we got in we'd be as lost as ever." He whispered staring at Robbie to back him up as Laura once again tried to head for the house.

"James she's in there alone with him and you didn't hear what I did we need to get in there now and we need to find her there isn't time to stand around making a plan for Christ's sake." She snapped as Robbie gently grasped her elbows turning her to face him and lowering his voice to a tender whisper.

"Laura pet we know all that we know that right now we have no idea what's going on and we all want to get her out but James is right two minutes spent now getting out bearings will save a hell of a lot more time once we get inside ok? So let's just take a second and work out where we are." He said his words seeming to sooth a little the panic that was radiating from Laura as they all turned their attention back to the house and he tried to see through the darkness where they were in relation to the door they were hoping to enter through. "OK well if we…."

"Sssh!" James interrupted grabbing both of them and pulling them further back into the limited coverage of the small clump of trees they'd just emerged from just in time for them all to become aware of what had sparked the sudden action. Walking past them not 12 feet away they saw two figures one male one female heading back in the direction of the gate house.

"Averill is clearing our rooms right now we need to deal with the doctor and get the hell out of here." The familiar voice of Mrs Montgomery carried through the night air as the younger man by her side nodded his agreement. "John is dealing with the Innocent woman and he better not take all bloody night about it we have to assume the men have got out of the grounds by now and we may be miles away from anywhere but there's always a chance they could flag down a passing car or find some other way to get help so we need to move fast."

"I don't like leaving loose ends Sonia I don't fucking like it at all but if they have got away why are we bothering with the women wouldn't it be better to cut and run now?" The young man said as they stopped briefly and she stared at him.

"The women have seen too much and could pass on too much information. What have those two thick coppers seen? Some people in fancy dress for fleeting moments through the evening when they were too busy play acting? No we can risk losing them provided we're gone before they get help and end up back here with half the fucking Oxfordshire Police force as back up now stop trying to get out of doing anything hands on we have work to do unless you want to spend the rest of your days locked up."

Listening as the conversation carried on but became fainter and harder to hear the further away the two people got Robbie tightened the grip of his arm around Laura's shoulders pulling her a little closer as he felt her bury her head in his chest the trembling her could feel reverberating through him he knew coming as much from fear at what they'd just heard as it was from the cold in the air around them.

"Ok they've gone." James said finally after watching until the shadows of the other people were completely out of sight "From what I can work out we go through the back door that we came out of Robbie the we need to aim left and find a stair case that takes us through that wing of the house, it looked like she was in an attic room or one not far off being right at the top of the house so stairs are our first priority ok?"

Waiting while the others nodded James took the lead this time as Robbie gripped Laura's hand pulling her with them. Once back against the ivy covered wall of the house they stayed close to it following it round toward where a chink of light was still visible from the back door they had left ajar earlier in the night. Breathing a sigh of relief that the one entrance they knew they had to the property appeared to still be open to them he signalled to Robbie and Laura to wait while he slid along the wall easing it open a little further and scanning the room inside before motioning to them that the coast was clear and they should follow.

"They obviously know this was how we got out but since we already know they think we've ran I don't suppose they thought to watch it to see if we'd use it to get back in." Robbie whispered in response to the slightly confused glance that James had thrown in his direction.

"No I suppose not, ok we know going out into the main hall again is going to get us nowhere and the only other apparent access to this room is from that door over there." James continued walking toward the heavy wooden door at the left hand side of the room and trying the handle.

"What if the rooms they have been using are through there?" Laura asked hating herself for pointing out the possible danger that she knew they would have already thought of.

"Then we deal with whatever we come up against." Robbie replied "I mean we know Henderson is wherever Jean is and the other two are on the way to discovering that you aren't in the gatehouse so the worst we can have to deal with is one young girl I think between us we can manage that."

"Right now I could manage taking on a fucking army if it meant there was a way to get up to that room on the other side of it, come on we're wasting time." James added slowly opening the door praying it wouldn't creak and give away their presence like it was sure to do if this was some cheesy horror movie and breathing a sigh of relief when it didn't.

Taking the two stone steps that lead to the corridor on the other side in one step he briefly glanced behind to make sure that the others were following before moving quietly along the long corridor. There were a multitude of doors along one wall and from one near the middle he could hear the sound of someone moving around, the clatter of things being thrown into what he assumed was a suitcase or box and the quiet mutterings of a female voice. Pausing for a second he looked at Robbie trying to glean from a look alone that he had heard the same thing and that they were on the same page as far as getting past that door and toward the staircase at the end of the hallway. A simple nod was all the reassurance he needed as he carried on pausing to check that the door was closed and they would not be immediately seen by the woman inside before motioning to the others to follow.

"Do you hear that?" Robbie whispered when they finally made it to the staircase and up the first few stairs. "I can hear them, I can hear him talking we must be close."

"Yeah I know let's just keep moving I….." James began before his words were cut off by the sound of a frightened cry from the top of the stairs followed immediately by another and the sounds alone broke any tenuous grip he still had on his self-control. Without a seconds hesitation he took the remaining stairs two at a time, the idea of being careful, of trying to get to Jean without alerting their captors that they were doing so leaving him completely. At that moment all he wanted was to get to that room and stop whatever was happening before it was too late and nothing was going to stop him.


	14. Chapter 14

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it 14/?**

Fighting as hard as she could as the weight of her attackers hand again made contact with her face Jean felt the room begin to spin praying that her cries were being heard by someone, that the others really had seen her from the window earlier and were on their way. Feeling both her hands gripped in one of Henderson's she tried to pull away as he pushed her further into the damp smelling mattress as his free hand tore at the buttons of her blouse and fought to stay conscious as she kicked out in the hope she might actually make contact with his body and distract him enough to get away.

"You fucking bitch! Fighting isn't going to do you any good it's only going to make this worse for you." He snarled the third and hardest blow finally making the room fade completely but not before she was sure she saw James come hurtling through the door her final thought being one of fear for what might happen should Henderson abandon his attack on her and turn his violence on James.

"Get the hell away from her." James screamed reaching the room the sight in front of him driving out any residual fear he was feeling as Robbie caught up with him. Grabbing the other man he pulled him away from the bed a flurry of flailing punches and angry screams culminating in their captor eventually fleeing the room as Robbie went to follow but Laura stopped him.

"Leave it Robbie you don't know where he's gone or what you'd be running into they clearly know this place like the back of their hand and we have no clue where we are we need to get Jean out of here to somewhere safe where we can all calm down a little and work out how the hell we get out of here." She said quietly watching as James leaned over the bed all colour draining from his face as he gently pulled the open sides of Jean's blouse closed before trying to wake her.

"Laura I can't get her to wake up, I can't find a pulse, oh god Laura do something." He shouted his friends rushing to his side as Robbie held him back giving Laura space to get close to the bed. The blood running from Jeans nose onto the white linin pillowcase and the angry bruising already starting to show around her face told her he was wrong, she was alive, there as a pulse somewhere dead bodies don't continue to bruise nor continue to bleed unless there's blood pressure to make it happen.

"James she has a pulse calm down she's been knocked out it looks like he did a pretty comprehensive job of making sure that happened but you stopped him before he could do anything else, she's going to be ok but we do need to get her out of here can you two go along the corridor see if there's another open room, one we can hide in while I clean her up and she comes round?"

"We're not leaving you two alone in here have you lost your fucking mind did you see what he was doing when we came in what if he came back before we did?" Robbie snapped as James sat on the bed beside Jean brushing some stray hairs away from her cheek where they were tangling in the blood there.

"Well we can't stay here, even if we found a way to barricade the door we would have left ourselves cornered." Laura replied looking from one of the men to the other. She knew they were right it was a risk splitting up at all even for the short time it would hopefully take them to find them somewhere else to hide but at that second she couldn't think of anything else to do. They couldn't risk trying to get out of the house while Jean was still unconscious and it was also too dangerous to try going down the stairs they had come up just yet so all she could think of was finding another room on the corridor they were already on and then once they were out of sight working out what they could do next.

"Is it safe to move her?" James asked, while it appeared Jean didn't have any other obvious injuries what little part of his brain that was still able to focus on anything but her reminding him that the most dangerous injuries after an attack were often the ones you couldn't see.

"It's safer than not moving her." Laura sighed checking the pulse point on Jean's wrist again as she spoke.

"Laura's right I'll carry her and we'll go along the corridor and see if we can find a room and do it quickly before he alerts the others and we're faced with all of them." Robbie agreed approaching the bed as James jumped off it stopping him in his tracks.

"I'll carry her you keep hold of Laura from now on we don't split up even for a second. You two go in front I'll follow." He snapped as Robbie started to open his mouth to object and Laura shook her head at him watching as James covered Jean tenderly in the blanket that lay at the end of the bed before scooping her into his arms.

"Right Robbie grab a few of those bottles of water on the table in the corner I'll need them to clean her up if the room we find doesn't have it's own bathroom." She whispered waiting until he fell into step beside her as they left the room before lowering her voice and continuing. "He didn't mean anything by stepping between you and Jean so don't take it personally. He's angry and he's scared and someone he cares about is hurt not to mention that we're all thinking about how much worse it could have been had we not seen her at that window or heard her screaming. If it was me instead of her would you have let him carry me through the house or would you have wanted to be sure yourself that I was ok?"

"Yeah I know, I can't imagine how he's feeling right now because I want to find that bastard Henderson and beat him to a pulp myself for what he was trying to do." Robbie agreed as they tried door after door finding them all locked until finally at the end of the corridor one opened with a muffled creak and on the other side they saw another narrow staircase.

"It must lead to the attic." James whispered as they both stared at the open door for a moment. "I know it's risking putting ourselves in an even more confined space but it's all we've got right now."

"Yeah let's go." Robbie sighed nodding to Laura to go first before letting James pass with Jean and then stepping inside closing the door and turning the rusty looking lock on the inside of the door. Feeling along the wall as they reached the top of the stairs Laura felt a light switch hitting it and praying that they would be able to see something and at least have some idea where they were.

"This is old servants quarters." James said quietly as a dim light was cast from the bare light bulbs overhead and they saw two single beds with a tiny window and small wash stand. Laying Jean on one of the beds he sat on the edge of it staring down at her. "I swear I'll kill him for doing this to her. Laura is it normal for her not to have come round yet? I mean we got to her nearly half an hour ago and we don't know how long she'd been out before that surely she should be coming round by now if she was just knocked out."

"James there's no way of knowing what happened before we got there or….." Laura began pausing as she thought carefully about how to word her next statement and saw realisation cross Robbie's eyes as she did before James caught up a second later.

"Or what he did that caused her to pass out in the first place? Just say it Laura we need her conscious whatever you say it can't be worse than what I'm imagining." James pressed pulling one of the pillow cases off the other bed ripping a strip off it and soaking it in water as he spoke before gently washing the dried blood off Jean's face.

"Ok look being completely objective, or trying to at least, there's lots of reasons why she hasn't come round. Just because she's unconscious doesn't mean she fainted or something that simple if he hit her hard enough, if he held her down too hard and she stopped breathing even for a few seconds it could take a lot longer for her to come round again. What we need to do now it watch her carefully and decide what we do when she does come round because we can't stay up here forever it's already 3am now that they know we're all together again they will be even more determined to make sure none of us makes it out of here."

"Ok." James agreed turning his attention back to Jean carefully continuing his attentions on the blood on her face as Robbie pulled Laura to one side dropping his voice to a whisper.

"What are you not saying Laura? I know there's something and it's fine I understand why you don't want to upset him anymore but you need to be honest with me so I know what we're dealing with."

"Look everything I said to him is true but you and I both know sometimes it's not that simple." Laura sighed glancing across the small room again closing her eyes as she leaned back against the wall for a second. "The brain is an unpredictable thing Robbie if the physical and mental distress is bad enough it can shut down to protect itself."

"So what you're saying is we don't know that she's going to come round any time soon?"

"Yeah that's exactly what I'm saying but let's not go there till we have to." Laura confirmed taking a deep breath as she willed her friend to wake up. It was going to be hard enough to get out of there without having to do it with her unconscious throughout. Right now she knew that James was just about holding it together and Robbie was on high alert to every sound whatever happened they needed to stay together and they needed a plan one that didn't just involve running from one room to the other. Now that they were together they needed to work out how to get away, far away so they'd all be safe.


	15. Chapter 15

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it 15/?**

"All I can see from this window is the grounds we must still be at the back of the house I can't see the driveway or the courtyard were we parked the car." Robbie said quietly giving the view one last scan before turning his attention back to the others. James was still focused completely on Jean who in spite of the efforts he'd made to clean away all traces of blood was looking worse by the second. The bruises they had seen coming to the surface when they first got up to the attic were now fully formed leaving her looking frighteningly like Laura's secret confession that she didn't know if Jean would come round soon seem even more likely.

"Laura her breathing is very shallow is she ok?" James asked staring at the doctor as she got up from the other bed where she'd been sitting trying to pull together the little they knew about where they were.

"Her pulse is still strong James it's ok." She smiled trying to be reassuring as she knelt by the bed looking at her friend, she was sure without the need for an x-ray that her cheekbone was broken and the angry gash on her lip should be stitched but there was nothing she could do about it. Not only that but it was a safe bet that when Jean did come round she was going to be in pain and they had nothing to help not so much as an aspirin between them. "Jean if you can hear me we really need you to come back to us because you're the brains of this operation you've left me with these two and now look at us."

"Damn right we need you to wake up." Robbie added joining them beside the bed and picking up on Laura's idea that if they just talked tried to keep the air of tension in the room down a little it might be able to think straight for a minute and come up with a plan. "Look at the mess we're in without you stuck in the attic with a quartet of homicidal maniacs after us if you were here you'd have thought of a plan by now."

"Ok let's try to think about this logically." Laura sighed as she stood up again and they all fell silent for a second before James finally spoke for the first time other than to express concern for Jean since they'd come up to the room.

"We know whatever happens we're likely to be confronted with one or more of then when we leave this room, probably with them all since they now know we're all together so we need to decide what the best way of dealing with them is and how we can get from here to the car. Robbie do you have the keys?"

"No when I went for the phones they weren't were I left them on the table but the car was still on the courtyard when we were going through the grounds earlier." Robbie replied catching on to James train of thought as he went to the top of the stairs and felt Laura grab his wrist.

"Where are you going you are not leaving this room without the rest of us." She snapped her heart pounding as she watched him turn again.

"We need to know exactly what position we're in we can't all go right now because we can't risk moving Jean and we need to know if they are in the house and if not if there is a way we can get out without alerting them to the fact we're going." He sighed frustration at the fact they were just sitting around finally getting too much or him. They could sit around in that room and wait for their attackers to try everywhere else and eventually realise they were there or they could try to find a way out. Right now he knew what he wanted to do. "You need to stay here with Jean and James in case she needs you I'll go down I'll be careful and when I find a way out I'll come back for you all."

"No! No way!" Laura replied in an angry whisper "James tell him! We can't split up, we can't let him go off on his own it's not safe."

"He's right Laura but so are you. Robbie you can't go on your own I'm coming with you. You need to stay here with Jean Laura lock the door after us and we'll be back for you before you know it." James sighed ignoring the panicked look she was giving to both him and Robbie as he turned his attention back to Jean placing a gentle kiss on her forehead "I'm coming back for you and when I do you better be awake you hear me because I'm going to get you out of here and when I do no one will ever hurt you again."

"Listen Laura we have to do something." Robbie said quietly pulling her into his arms as he saw a single tear roll down her cheek. "We'll be fine and so will you now follow us down the stairs and when we go out through the door lock it again and don't open it unless you are sure it is us."

"And how the hell am I supposed to know it's you?" Laura replied angrily pulling away not believing what she was hearing. Not an hour ago they had all agreed they definitely shouldn't split up that whatever happened they had to stay together because it was the only way to stay safe and now they were both talking about going out there into god knows what and she was supposed to just magically know when it was them at the door.

"We'll knock three times or something." Robbie sighed hating the fact they were splitting up as much as she was but not sure there was another way to do it.

"We're not in a fucking 70's horror movie Robbie this is our lives you're messing with what happened to we all stay together and come up with a plan?"

"Laura calm down." James interrupted glancing at Robbie in a way he hoped would tell him he needed to let him handle it for a second. "Look do you think I want to go and leave you and Jean? Right now I don't want to let her out of my sight ever again but we're cornered up here, we can stay here all night and pray that they don't discover us or we can do something and right now I think it's worth the risk. We'll be as quick as possible and when we get back this will almost be over. I need you to stay calm and look after Jean and when she wakes up tell her that I love her and I'm coming back for her ok?"

"Ok." Laura smiled nodding at Robbie as he tried to hide his surprise at James's choice or words before taking her hand and pulling her back into his arms.

"And I love you and I'm coming back for you too ok?" Robbie smiled kissing her gently as James started down the stairs and he followed. "Lock the door and remember don't open it to anyone unless it's us we'll make sure you know it's us ok?"

Watching as James opened the door a crack glancing up and down the corridor before motioning for Robbie to follow him she waited until they were clear of the door before closing it sliding the lock into place and rushing back up the stairs to Jean.

"I really don't think this is a good idea." She said quietly sitting on the bed beside her friend and taking a deep breath. "See this is what I mean we need you back Jean they don't listen to me but they do to you. Did you hear that though? James says I've to tell you he loves you so if we ever get out of this hell hole at least one good thing will have come from all of this so you need to come back from wherever your brain has decided to send you to hide and muck in with the whole plan to escape thing and you need to do it quickly."

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" James whispered as he and Robbie made their way along the corridor both hyper aware of everything that was going and on alert for any sound.

"No I think it was a fucking terrible idea but do you have a better one?" Robbie replied as they reached the stair case they had run up when they'd first heard Jean's screams and strained to hear if there was any movement at the foot of them.

"Well whatever we're going to do we're not going to do it standing here are you ready?"

"Yes if we encounter any of them we do what we have to agreed?" Robbie asked taking a deep breath and trying to calm the shaking in his hands as they stood on the first step and began slowly descending. Whatever happened from here on he was going to make sure he got back to Laura and if that meant he had to take out anyone who got in his way or threatened their safety he was prepared to do it.


	16. Chapter 16

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it 16/?**

"Slowly down the stairs if there's even a hint that they are down there we move back up and look for something to defend ourselves. Got it?" Robbie whispered as he and James started down the stone staircase they had ran up earlier when they heard Jean scream and he said a silent thank you that the fact it was stone not wood meant it didn't creak like every other door and floorboard in the place.

"I can't hear anything do you think they've gone? Maybe they decided it was safer to cut and run." James replied straining his ears to listening for any hint of movement as they reached the corridor they had seen the younger woman in earlier that evening and it appeared to be empty.

"No based on what we saw in the basement of that gate house I don't think they are cut and run types of people they won't want to risk us being able to identify them but they don't seem to be here." Robbie whispered as they moved along the corridor keeping close to the wall and checking each room as they went until they got to the end and found themselves back in the kitchen again.

"You realise we have to go back into the main house if we're going to get the keys, do you think the girls are going to be ok? If something happened now we wouldn't even be able to hear them."

"We can't focus on what if's at the minute James we have to trust Laura not to do anything stupid, she's not going to open that door or make a noise and alert them she's there and we know they aren't around there just now anyway. Come on the sooner we get through the house and up to the bedrooms the sooner we can get back to them."

Clinging to the wall as they reached the kitchen door they had picked the lock on earlier in the night and were about to go through it when the sound of voices from the hallway on the other side stopped them in their tracks.

"I don't understand why we can't just go, so what if they have seen us if we get out of here now we can be far enough away before they have a chance to tell anyone what's happened." The voice of the younger woman of the group carried through the stillness of the house.

"Stop being such a stupid bitch you don't get it do you? They've seen the bodies in the gatehouse, we don't have time to clean up so our finger prints and god knows what else are all over the house not to mention that John will have left DNA all over the Innocent woman when he hit her they won't need to find us right away they'll be able to find out who we are and before we know it we'll be all over the TV news and then we're screwed." Mrs Montgomery snapped as they heard what sounded like the front door being opened and two male voices join the group.

"Sonia there's no sign of them in the grounds but we didn't go as far down as the gatehouse."

"Why the hell not? Seriously John we need to find them they aren't stupid they'll have headed for the gate did you make sure it was padlocked?"

"No look there's four of them and four of us you can bet they have stayed together we need to as well." Alistair added "So long as the gate is padlocked there's no way out of the grounds so we will find them they can't be moving that quickly John says he knocked Innocent out so even if she's come round she's not going to be in any state to run anywhere."

"Yeah I think we should go back out load the stuff into the car and then when we do find them we are ready to go I swear when I do the young fella's mine he nearly broke my fucking nose earlier." Henderson growled as Robbie and James exchanged a glance backing into the corner behind the kitchen door in case they came through it.

"We've already got everything in the car we did it while you two were supposed to be dealing with them god this is a fucking nightmare we should have ditched them at the beginning in future we listen to me not your dick John." Mrs Montgomery sighed "let's go check the gatehouse if they aren't there like Alistair says they can't be out of the grounds there's no way out except through the gate and it's locked."

"I still think we should just go why do…" The sound of hand making contact with skin made Robbie and James jump as Robbie looked through the crack in the frame of the door and saw the younger woman staring in shock at Henderson and he stormed off toward the front door.

"She's a fucking liability shut her up and hurry up it's going to be getting light in a couple of hours and I want this lot dealt with and us to be on the road by the time it does." He shouted as the others followed him to the door and James breathed a sigh of relieve at the fact that in the short term at least they knew they were in the house alone.

"Right come on we need to get back to our rooms and see if the car keys are in mine and I'm pretty sure Laura will have a first aid kit somewhere in her luggage she never travels without on so we can take it back upstairs in case she needs it when Jean comes round." Robbie said quietly as they moved out into the hall and headed for the stairs still aware that their captors could return at any moment.

"If they aren't there what then?" James asked glancing into Jean's room as they passed before grabbing Robbie's arm and pulling him inside. "We should take Jean something to put on, that blouse is too badly ripped she'll be mortified if she has to start trying to get through the house to the car in it."

"Yeah ok good idea grab some towels or something too that pillow case and the bottle of water didn't make a dent in cleaning her up I'll go next door and see if Laura has the first aid kit." Robbie agreed leaving the room glancing up and down the corridor as he did and ducking into Laura's room rooting around and finally finding the small leather case with basic medical supplies before joining James back in the corridor and heading for his own room.

Moving around the room checking all the surfaces and the floor James felt his frustration grow as they seemed to be having no luck at all in finding the keys, he was about to suggest that they leave it and just head back for the girls when he heard Robbie whisper a triumphant "yes" and turned to see him holding up the keys.

"They must have knocked them onto the floor when they were taking your phone, thank god for that, right let's get back up to the attic and get the girls now that we've finally caught a break tonight let's not waste it." He smiled moving back into the corridor as Robbie followed and moments later they were back in the kitchen heading for the door to the stairway.

"James wait!" Robbie whispered as they were about to go back into the corridor and he was sure he heard voices in the rooms that lay between them and the stair case leading them back to the girls. "Did you hear that?"

"I didn't hear anything come on we don't have time for this they won't be out in the grounds forever we need to get the girls down and outside before they come back." James snapped carrying on into the corridor passing the first two rooms without incident and finally seeing the bottom of the staircase. "Come on we're almost….."

"Shut up!" Robbie snapped pulling him into an empty room just as on the other side of the corridor the Averill came back out into the corridor muttering to herself angrily.

"Fucking walking disaster area, who the hell does he think he is anyway, well after this I'm out I've had enough for that bastard and his fucking twisted games…" she muttered heading for the room they were standing in as he and James stared at each other clearly both thinking the same thing. If she came into that room they had two options they could try to hide or they could over power her and at least even up the odds if they had to fight to get out. One of them out of action would make it a lot easier in the long run and he knew what he would choose to do and looking at James he was pretty sure he was thinking the same thing.


	17. Chapter 17

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it 17/?**

Sitting on the bed in the attic room Laura stared at the top of the stairs willing the door at the bottom of them to knock. Robbie and James had been gone almost an hour and every minute of that time had felt like a lifetime. She couldn't stop the images running through her mind of the bodies in the basement of the gatehouse and the things that might be happening to the boys at that moment. Added to that the fact that Jean was still unconscious and the angry bruising on her face and around her neck was now shining like a beacon as a living reminder of what Henderson was capable of was making her stomach knot tightly.

"Where are they Jean?" She asked having given up hoping for a reply but needing to talk to feel less like she was completely alone. "It's been 48 minutes and they aren't back and you are still out cold what am I supposed to do now? How long do we wait before I have to assume something has happened to them? If something has happened what do I do next? Do we stay here and hope they don't find us? I can't carry you like James did I…"

"Laura?" The rendition of her name was so quiet that for a second she convinced herself she'd imagined it but when she stared at her friend and saw her eyes flicker open she thought for a second she might scream with relief. "Laura what's happening, where are we?"

"Jean it's ok don't try to move." She said quietly moving to the other bed and sitting beside Jean taking her hand and squeezing her hand gently.

"I… James…is he…..the last thing I remember is….." Jean continued the words sticking in her throat at the last events that she remembered came back in a flood and she felt fear grip her again and tried to move.

"He's ok Jean please don't try to move just yet and try to stay calm, can you drink something? Your lip is pretty swollen but you need to try." Laura replied opening the bottle of water beside the bed and holding it to Jean's lips as she took a drink from it wincing as the liquid hit the angry cut on her upper lip. "We got you and we got away, well not away but to safety for now but the boys have gone to try to find a way out."

"Laura I don't understand, why are they doing this? Why did he….. why was he trying to….."

"Ssssh it's ok look we know what he was trying to do we don't need to go into detail just stay calm and I'll explain what we know." Laura interrupted sighing as Jean insisted on trying to get off the bed and finally propping up the rough looking pillow and easing her friend back onto it so she was sitting up before starting to explain how she'd been knocked out, how she'd woken up in the gatehouse and what she'd found while she was there. "There were four of them, a couple in night clothes and the others in period costume so it's obviously something they use to lure people in. I heard them talking and this isn't the first place they've done this they've been all over the country. There are likely more murder cases that are on the books of other forces unsolved. Anyway the boys managed to get away and they found me, then we headed back up here we saw you at the window and when we managed to get into the house again we heard you screaming, I've never seen anyone move the way James did to get to you."

"I saw him….I mean just before I blacked out I saw him come into the room. Why us though? I mean this was booked through the chief constable's office if they knew we were in the force why would they risk it if you say they have done this before?" Jean asked trying to take in everything she was being told and feeling fear grip her chest all over again at the realisation that James and Robbie where somewhere in the house with those people.

"I don't think they realised we were law enforcement until we arrived I overheard them talking and the others wanted to call it off when we got here and they realised but Henderson wouldn't let them." Laura continued praying that her friend would accept that explanation and not push further but knowing it was unlikely.

"It doesn't make sense Laura if they have been getting away with this why didn't they just come up with an excuse to send us home? Why take the risk?"

"They're pretty sure of themselves, I'm sure they believed that they could handle us something that's not proved as easy as they were hoping clearly." Laura sighed getting off the bed and pacing back and forward beside it for a second as Jean stared at her clearly waiting for her to continue. "it seems Henderson took a shine to you when we arrived and he convinced them they could handle us because he wanted to…."

"It's fine Laura as you said we know what he wanted to do." Jean muttered staring at her hands for a second. So far she'd been told plenty about how she and Laura had ended up in the room they were in but nothing about why they were alone there and that was her main concern at that moment, anything else and how she felt about it she'd deal with when they were all safe. "Where are Robbie and James and how long have they been gone?"

"They went to see if the car keys were still in Robbie's room. They took all our phones but Robbie thinks the keys are still somewhere in his room then they're going to try to find a way to get us all to the car without running into them again." Laura continued sitting down again on the bed. "I didn't want them to go, I tried to convince them we'd be better staying together but they don't listen to me the way they do to you."

"That's a joke Laura they don't listen to me either they just pretend to then do what they think is best anyway. How long have they been gone?" Jean asked the throbbing in her head intensifying as she saw a brief moment of panic cross Laura's eyes. "Laura how long have they been gone?"

"Over an hour, I don't know what to do Jean they swore they would be as quick as possible and they would make sure that we knew it was them at the door when they came back but they aren't back and I haven't even heard anything resembling movement at the foot of the stairs since they left."

"Oh god." Jean muttered finally feeling like the strength was coming back to her legs and moving ignoring Laura's attempts to get her to stay where she was. "What we're not going to do is run out the door and possibly make matters worse, we need to think about this for a minute and decide if there's any chance they could have just got held up or be finding it hard to get back here."

"Of course there is but what if that's not why they're not back. What if they are in trouble? They promised they were coming back for us. James told me to tell you if you woke up that he loves you and he's coming back for you but….."

"What?" Jean interrupted turning on her heels and staring at her friend as she nodded the implications of her words hitting home like a sledge hammer as she felt the strength leave her legs again.

"He's not left your side since we found you I think if he meets that Henderson bloke out there he'll kill him with his bare hands but they're out numbered Jean we have to do something." Laura replied as Jean nodded.

"Ok well we can't do anything from here so we'll have to think about moving what if we do though and they…" Jean began before they both stared at the staircase the three soft knocks on the door making them both stop.

"Robbie said they'd knock three times." Laura whispered as they stood at the top of the stairs staring at the door before she started down them putting her ear to the door in an effort to confirm who it was before she opened it and potentially let danger walk through it.


	18. Chapter 18

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it 18/?**

"I think she's alone." James whispered as he and Robbie stood behind the door of the room they'd hidden in on hearing the young girl's voice. They'd barely breathed since dashing inside and now as she continued to mutter quietly to herself they could be as sure as possible that she was alone.

"What do you think we should do?" Robbie asked glancing around the room for anything that might help them immobilise the girl without actually resorting to violence. Much as he knew both he and James would happily beat the pulp out of certain members of the group currently torturing them all he didn't think starting with a young girl was the way to go and he could see from the way James followed his eyes that he was thinking the same thing.

"If we can get her upstairs to the attic room without her alerting the others we can lock her in there and at least it will even the odds a little. Hopefully when we get back Jean will have come round and we can get the hell out of here so if she is up there with no way of letting them know what's going on then maybe we can get out before they realise she's gone." James replied pulling the sheet off the top of the bed in the room and tearing it into strips. "I'll go out and distract her you gag her and tie her hands then we'll get her upstairs as quickly as possible."

"I don't know about distracting her James we're assuming she's alone but what if she's..." Robbie began before sighing heavily as James ignored him heading out of the room and he fell into step behind him waiting until he had entered the room on the other side of the hall and heard the girl gasp. Rushing through the door he saw James with the young girl held tightly by her wrists his hand over her mouth and quickly used the makeshift ropes to tie her hands and replace James's hand with a gag.

"Listen to us we don't want to hurt you." James whispered when his hands were free again and it was clear the girl would neither be able to scream nor run for help. "But we know what you have all been doing and we have no intention of letting it happen to us so if you fight us we'll do whatever it takes to keep you quiet ok?"

"Just come with us and you'll be fine at least until we get the police out here then you're on your own but at least you won't need to have to fear for your lives unlike us." Robbie added gripping the girl's arm as James checked the corridor again and they moved out carrying on their journey to the door of the attic room.

Reaching the door James knocked firmly three times hearing movement inside and glancing at Robbie as he nodded indicating that he should do it again.

"Laura it's us open the door." James whispered when they heard the gentle sound of footsteps reaching the door then another pause before the key turned and Laura pulled the door open as they moved quickly inside, "close it and lock it again, quickly."

"Oh god thank god you're back we were so worried." Laura gasped as they made it to the top of the stairs gently pushing the girl onto the bed in the corner before turning to look at the girls again and she threw her arms around Robbie's necks he held her close for a second.

"Jean are you ok? We brought you some clothes and brought Laura's medical bag. Talk to me are you ok?" James asked tentatively gripping Jean's hand as she stared at him for a second. "Jean? Laura what's...?"

"I'm fine, well I'm not but I'm better for seeing you and knowing you are safe." Jean replied pulling him into her arms as Laura rooted around in the bag they had brought and Robbie secured the young girl to the iron bed head.

"I was so scared I'd lost you." James whispered as she buried her head in his shoulder and he gently kissed the top of her head. "When we get out of this we need to talk, I never want to feel like I've wasted anymore time where you're concerned."

"We will, Laura gave me your message and I love you too but for now we need to focus on getting out of here." She replied smiling as he gently ran the pad of his thumb over her injuries. "Did you say you brought me something to put on?"

"Yeah we did." Robbie interjected holding out the fresh blouse that he and James had brought as Laura set out some things on the small dressing table in the room.

"Jean let me clean you up properly now that we have supplies and while I'm doing that we can decide what to do next, and what we do with her." Laura said quietly as the boys turned their backs and Jean slipped on the fresh blouse before sitting down in front of Laura wincing slightly as the doctor began dabbing the wounds on her face with iodine.

"Laura's right now we're all together again we need a plan and what are we supposed to do with her?" She asked glaring at the girl who was now firmly tied to the metal bed frame. "We can't take her with us."

"We're not intending to." Robbie replied moving around the room throwing the few remaining bottles of water and medical supplies into Laura's bag as James looked out the window checking for the others. "We leave her here and lock the door when we get out and get help we can tell them she's up here but we can't risk her getting to the others to warn them we're on the move."

"Yeah ok tell us what else you found out while you were out there did you get the car keys?" Laura asked as she finished cleaning up Jean's face and they all stood together in the middle of the room.

"Yeah we got them and we know the others are in the grounds there's seen serious in fighting going on so if we can just stick together spend get to the car there's a chance we can get out of here sooner rather than later." James answered as they glanced around a final time.

"Ok we get out into the hall we stick against the wall I'll go first you two in the middle and James at the back. If we go straight down the stairs into the kitchen and out the back door we're in a much better situation to get to the car without being seen be use the cover of darkness outside will give us an advantage." Robbie explained as they all nodded. "Once we're out there we stay in the shadows, go round the outside of the house sticking close to the wall and when we get to the car it's in and straight for the gate,"

"They said the gate is still padlocked." James reminded him as the girls both sighed heavily.

"Yeah well we'll deal with that when we get that far provided they aren't on our asses we'll find a way to get the lock off. Are we ready for this?"

"We've as ready as we're ever going to be." Jean snapped as moments passed and they all stared at each other no one seeming to want to be the first to move. "Let's go I have had enough of sitting around waiting for something to happen let's just get the hell out of here."


	19. Chapter 19

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it 19/?**

"All clear." Robbie whispered after unlocking the door at the button of the stairs again and glancing back and forward ensuring that there was no one in the immediate area before motioning to the others to follow.

"James take the key from the door we'll lock it from this side then we can pass it on when we get help." Jean said quietly once Robbie, Laura and herself were safely in the corridor and James stepped out too pulling the door behind him and locking it before putting the key in his pocket.

"Ok we stay close together go to the end of this corridor then there are stairs to the left we go down them and it takes us to another short corridor it's the most dangerous area we hit first that's where we found the girl and it seems to be where they have been living so if they come back looking for her or any of their stuff that's where they're likely to be." He told Jean as they carried on down the hall Robbie and Laura having some idea where they were going but since she hadn't been with them when they came in that way to find her she had no idea what she was coming to next.

"Yeah once we start down these stairs complete silence unless you see something just follow me and leave as little space between us as possible." Robbie agreed as they reached the top of the stairs and he beckoned them to follow.

Trying to keep one eye on Laura and Robbie and the other on the long hallway they had reached at the bottom of the stairs Jean reached behind her gripping James's hand feeling instantly safer as he squeezed it lacing his fingers with hers as she tried to pull it away again. The security of having the entire group back together again combined with the fact he was already holding good to his promise to protect her filled her with a fresh confidence as they moved past the first couple of rooms without incident and were only a short way from the door to the kitchen when she glanced into the final room something on the small dressing table in the corner catching her eye. Tugging at Laura's sleeve she motioned to the room waiting as her friend alerted Robbie who stopped in his tracks glaring back at them.

"In here, on the dressing table in the corner there a mobile phone." She whispered waiting for the message to make it's way back to Robbie as James looked over her shoulder before motioning to the other man to stay where he was.

"Wait I'm closer I'll go get it." He said quietly letting go reluctantly of Jean's hand and giving a quick glance around the room to ensure it was empty before moving quickly through it grabbing the iPhone off the table before joining the others again and motioning to them to continue.

"Straight ahead see the door on the other side of the room that takes us out into the grounds." Robbie said quietly as they made it to the kitchen and where about to move when the chiming of the grandfather clock in the main hallway startled them while simultaneously letting them know it was 4am. "We need to get to the car ASAP another hour and a half or so and the sun will be coming up then we're sitting ducks."

"Wait." Laura said as the gathered into a small group again waiting for her to continue. "You haven't told us where we go when we get out the door, we didn't see the front of the house have any of us any idea if we go left or right when we get out there or if there's even a direct way round to the front courtyard from the back of the house a lot of these places had walled back gardens we could be could just be walking into a bigger trap."

"We know where we're going we came out this way when we found you and we were able to go the whole way round the house to the driveway that's how we found you and we came back that way remember." James reassured smiling as she nodded feeling he pounding in her chest ease just a little as the new worm of fear that had set of the train of thought was stopped before it could mature. "When we get out the door we go left, cling to the wall it's darkest there and there are a lot of windows once we get round near the front we're going to need to all but crawl past them because if they are in any of those rooms they'll see our shadows going past."

"Ok come on we can't stay still for too long especially in here they could come through that door any minute." Jean said the stillness in the air making her nervous. It was all too quiet and something was telling her that it didn't feel right. As Robbie again started to move with Laura close behind she gripped James's hand once more as they headed out the door and the cool night air hit her like a steam train. The chill ran through her sending a shiver down her spine that must have registered right through her body causing James to squeeze her hand a little tighter. Everything felt too calm and she was liking that fact less and less by the minute. Right now there were three murders still somewhere around them who were currently at very real risk of getting caught if they she and the others escaped and yet there was no sound around them. No panicked voices trying to find them, now shouts or even the sound of moving feet if they were in a frenzy about finding and killing her, James, Robbie and Laura why did it feel like they were making no effort to do so whatsoever? "Wait, one second just wait."

"Jean we can't keep stopping." James said quietly as they all leaned against the wall of the house once again the only sound in the night air being their collective breathing as the others waited for her to explain.

"Something's not right."

"Jean, seriously? More than one thing isn't right that's why we're trying to get out of here." Robbie sighed as Laura shook her head at his reaction.

"She's right Robbie. Where are they? I mean we move through the house without hearing so much as a bit of distant noise from the main house, we're standing here were we already know noise carries no matter how far into the grounds you are that's how we heard them earlier and there's nothing, not even the sound of footsteps on the gravel on the driveway."

"Exactly." Jean continued keeping her voice in a barely audible whisper as she saw Robbie and James turn over the new information in their minds for a split second.

"Ok I can't argue with that but it doesn't change the fact we need to get to the car." Robbie agreed eventually about to move off again when Laura pulled him back.

"I think the car is a bad idea." She said looking to Jean for support who agreed immediately taking up her train of thought.

"I'm with Laura if I was them and I didn't know where we were I wouldn't look, I wouldn't waste my time, this is a big place we could be literally anywhere in it if it was me…"

"You'd think of where we'd be likely to go and head straight for it then sit and wait it out?" James interrupted giving a quiet frustrated groan as Robbie nodded sinking back against the ivy covered wall and trying to think of a new plan. Just when he thought they were finally getting somewhere something else was thrown up to screw them over. He knew the girls were right there was just as much chance that their tormentors had decided to give up searching and sit tight waiting for them to turn up but he didn't see any other way out. Right now they had to decide what was the bigger risk. Did they keep with the current plan, head for the car and hope that even if they were there between him, James and the girls they could over power all three and get into the car or did they change their plan and head down the drive to the gate on foot. Either way he knew had it's own dangers but the key now would be working out which was a calculated risk and which was plain stupidity.


	20. Chapter 20

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it 20/?**

"Ok look we have to do something and go somewhere. James is there any life in that phone?" Robbie asked suddenly remembering the mobile they had lifted from the room as they passed and watching as James pulled it from his pocket.

"It looks like the battery is dead it won't switch on." James replied continuing to push the button at the top of the slick black iPhone getting more and more frustrated. "If we do get to the car my car charger is in it and it's for an iPhone too so we can get some charge on it then and call for help."

"Well that decides it then." Jean said quietly the resignation in her voice obvious, In spite of her reservations the car seemed like the only place they should be heading at that moment since not only did it give them the means to get off the grounds but also now the only way to communicate with the world beyond the gates should they find that they couldn't get through the gates.

"Look it was always going to be dangerous no matter what way we went." Laura whispered "When we get to that side of the house and can see the car we'll not go near it if we think there's any chance they're watching. It has remote locking right Robbie?"

"Yeah it does, I see what you're thinking and it's a good idea." Robbie agreed watching as the others caught up. "So when we get there we unlock the car from a distance and see if that brings them out into the open if it doesn't then at least the doors are open and we can make a run for it, get in the car and lock ourselves in."

"Ok and if we think they're around we don't take the risk we head for the gates on foot." James reassured squeezing Jean's hand as they all fell silent again and continued to make their way round the wall of the house toward the courtyard.

"Did you hear that?" Jean whispered a few minutes later causing them all to stop in their tracks again as the sound of crunching gravel carried through the still night air. Sinking back closer into the wall into the shadows they listened carefully as the noise changed and they heard angry voices.

"They have to be somewhere in the ground John will you calm down you're going to have a fucking heart attack." The sound of Mrs Henderson's voice carried in their direction as Jean and Laura exchanged a concerned glance.

"No fucking shit Sonia but where in the grounds? Just because they can't get out the gate doesn't mean that they can't find another way to get back to the main road if they make their way round the perimeter it's going to be light in a couple of hours and we should be fucking driving away from here having finished them off and moving on instead we're running around the fucking grounds chasing shadows."

" You two sniping at each other isn't going to get us anywhere Averill is packing the bags and getting them in the car we stick to the plan, find them, do them quickly and cleanly then get the hell away." The younger male voice they Jean recognises as Alistair filled the air and the callous way he discussed killing them and making their getaway making her shiver involuntarily.

"Yeah well you're not exactly brain of fucking Britain you didn't even get the fucking car keys from their rooms." Mrs Montgomery snapped as the footsteps stopped and it appeared their argument was about to get into full swing.

"They won't have risked going back to get the keys either and even if they have it'll do them no good I got Alistair to slash the tires when we realised we didn't have the keys." Henderson replied the evil humour in his voice making Laura gasp quietly as the realisation of what he'd just said sank in and they all stared at each other clearly thinking the same thing. The decision that only minutes before had seemed like the most sensible one was now a nonstarter the car was useless and they knew from the direction the voices were coming from that their captors were heading for the front of the house so their only option was to go the other way.

"Now what the hell are we supposed….." James began before Robbie lifted his finger to his lips to silence him and the footsteps in the gravel started again and sounded alarmingly like it was heading in their direction. Motioning that they should move backward pointing at the clump of trees not very far from where they were standing Robbie gripped Laura's hand watching as James did the same before them all moved as quickly and silently as possible reaching the relative safety of the trees just in time to see the three people pass by where they had been standing moments before and head for the back door.

"Ok so change of plan." Jean whispered when they were out of sight again and she turned back to the others. "They are going looking for the Averill girl and we know they aren't going to find her not immediately anyway and when they realise she's gone they are going to really hit the panic button so we have to play the rest of this smart."

"Jean's right." James said quietly as Robbie continued to scan the area around them and Laura listen carefully. "The car, the phone it was all wishful thinking it was never going to be that easy these people are smart they have to have been to be getting away with it this long. I say we head for the gatehouse it's probably the only place they won't think we'll go. We get there then we can work out what to do next and we're as close as we're going to get to the perimeter fence without being out in the open."

"Back to the gatehouse?" Laura muttered the colour draining from her face as Jean looked from Robbie to James then back to Laura when neither of them moved to say anything reassuring.

"Laura listen to me." She said moving away from James's side for the first time since they left the house and resting her hands on her friend's upper arm maintaining eye contact as she spoke. "You're not going back there alone we're all going to be there. We know what's in the basement and we're not planning on ending up the same way but we need to get as close to the outside world as possible."

"There's a painting, well an etching more like on the bedroom wall." Laura replied trying to pull herself together knowing they were all right the gatehouse was the sensible next step no matter how much she hated the thought of going back there. "|It's of the house and grounds, it's old but it shows all of the grounds we might get some idea of where it would be easiest go get out if we can't get through the gate."

"Ok then." Robbie replied smiling reassuringly at her before putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her a little closer. "We stay in the tress as much as possible and we stay together. Jean's right we are not going to end up like those people in the basement we're stronger and smarter than that we've out smarted them so far and we'll continue to every step we take now is a step closer to getting out just focus on that and lets go."


	21. Chapter 21

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Who done it 21/? **

"Is the gatehouse really that bad?" Jean whispered as Robbie and Laura took the lead and she and James followed them, she knew what Laura had told her about what they'd found there and how she'd found it on her own but she had no mental picture of what she was walking in to and that was worrying her. "Laura paled by about six shades when it was mentioned. She told me there's bodies in the basement but…."

"I think it was just the idea of going back there when it was where she was trapped she'll be fine though." James reassured his eyes darting around through the dark trying to spot any movement that didn't come from them. His senses had never been so primed as they had in the few hours since their nightmare had begun and he was determined that if there was even a hint of danger he would see or hear it before it was on them and they were forced to act on the spare of the moment.

"Not much further is everyone ok?" Robbie asked quietly as they stopped in a particularly dense clump of trees and all stopped to catch their breath. "Look they must know by now that the girl is gone, if they are still looking for her in the house and don't think to check the attic as we hope they won't we maybe have 20 minutes tops before they realise she's not there and come out into the grounds I know we're all scared but if we can make it to the gate I really believe we'll be ok."

"There's a phone." Laura said quietly the way she'd been mentally walking round the gatehouse while they had been moving in silence bringing back a few memories that she thought might be helpful. "It's pulled out of the wall socket but if we could get the wires connected somehow even for a few minutes to get it working we might be able to call out."

"Brilliant, it's a start anyway and there we have the shelter and privacy to at least talk about what we should do next and where we should go." James replied placing a reassuring hand on Laura's arm as he did. "It's rough ground between here and the gatehouse if we stay in the trees but I think it's too dangerous to go out onto the driveway agreed?"

"Yeah just watch your footing and let's get moving again." Robbie agreed as he and Laura started off again James was right the ground was a minefield of lumps and tree roots and the speed they'd picked up when coming across the relatively well cared for grounds Laura had already stumbled once but the fact they were holding so tightly to each other's hands meant that he'd been able to prevent her from falling. He knew that there was only a short distance left to the wall surrounding the gatehouse and just as he was sure it was about to come into view he felt the toe of his boot catch on a particularly high root feeling Laura try to right him just like he had her as he hit the ground with a thud the pain that shot through his ankle making it almost impossible for him not to scream out.

"Robbie! Robbie are you ok?" James called running the short distance from where he and Jean were slightly behind them to his Laura's side and seeing his friend on the mossy ground gripping at his ankle.

"What happened? Robbie are you ok?" Jean asked kneeling on the floor beside Laura as James pulled the root giving it enough slack for Robbie to pull his ankle out from under it the whispered scream he gave making them all wince.

"Don't move for a second Robbie let me look at it." Laura said quietly sliding along on her knees until she reached his ankle and gently lifting it the movement causing Robbie to cry out in spite of his attempts to keep silent. "It's broken, it looks like a clean break but you're not going to be able to walk on now what are we supposed to do?"

"Leave me here you three go on to the gatehouse when you get out and get help you can send them back for me." Robbie replied his fists bunching in moss on either side of his body as the pain shot through his leg again bringing him out in a cold sweat.

"Like hell we will." Jean replied as the others nodded their agreement. There was no way she was leaving Robbie behind she was determined about that and she knew the others would be too there had to be a way to get him to the gatehouse with them they just had to think of it then when they were there Laura could do something to support his ankle until they could get out and get medical attention. "We're not going anywhere without you if you stay here in the middle of these trees we all stay here in the middle of these trees. There'll be a way to get you moving we've just got to think of it."

"Damn right, Robbie we've taken huge risks to make sure we are all together and stay together we're not leaving you behind so forget that right now." Laura agreed "We can't be that far away from the gatehouse now. James is there any loose branches? Anything that he could use to help support him and then we could take turns to support his other side?"

"I'll look, if need me I can support him until we get there." James agreed as Robbie shook his head.

"This is madness you can't move as quickly if you're having to drag me along with you there's more chance of you getting out and getting help if you leave me here." He snapped as James pointedly ignored him and rooted around amongst the trees and finally finding a thick bow on one of the trees that was hanging loose and he was able to break it off.

"Yeah and what happens if we leave you here and they find you? You wouldn't even be able to move to get away or attempt to defend yourself now stop trying to be a bloody hero and let's get moving again." Jean snapped as James handed Robbie the bough come makeshift walking stick and helped him to his feet ensuring that he could keep his foot off the ground one arm round James's neck and the other using the stick as support meaning they could start moving slowly. She knew it was less than ideal, the fact that now they were all essentially more at risk because of their slowness and the inability defend themselves as well as they had before but there was no way she or the others were going to walk away and leave him there to fend for himself. They were going to get out of it together or they were going to go down together either way no one was being left behind.


End file.
